


Moments Under Manhole Covers

by JustAndrea



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Brotherly Fluff, Comedy, Family Fluff, Gen, Lucky Star inspired moments, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-08-04 03:23:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 41
Words: 60,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16338887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAndrea/pseuds/JustAndrea
Summary: Various moments and stories that happen in-between all the crime fighting and mystic adventures. Featuring four turtle brothers, their rat dad, their human sister, and (of course) pizza.





	1. A Very Important Discussion About Pizza

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so, while it took me a bit to get into, I can definitely say now that I am totally into Rise of the TMNT - so much so that I'm actually breaking my 'only original pieces, no more fanfics' promise to myself because darn it these characters are just too much fun to write and I love their dynamic and cute family moments so much ^v^ So yeah, enjoy!

“PIZZA TIME!” **  
**

“Aw yes!”

“Finally!”

“Best time of the day!”

Even if its arrival hadn’t been announced, the heavenly aroma of what many considered to be the perfect dish was already spreading throughout their lair, making their turtle tummies rumble. The box was opened as soon as it was placed on the already-set coffee table, and the cheesy contents within it were just as quickly torn apart. On nights filled with plenty of fights and exercise, each turtle would usually get a whole pizza to himself in order to satisfy their appetite -as well as their individual tastes.

Raph was the meat lover’s eater of the family while Donnie preferred a few more veggies on his pizza, just for some added flavor and texture. He was also the only person in the family who didn’t mind anchovies on a pizza, though admitted that they weren’t always needed in order for him to enjoy a pizza. Both he and Leo also liked having a bit of extra sauce on their slices. Being the hopeful chef of the family, Mikey absolutely LOVED the savory-sweet contrast of Hawaiian pizza while Leo thought it was nothing short of a gross abomination. The blue turtle however did have a love for pepperoni that stretched back to when he was a baby, and insisted that any pizza without it just wasn’t pizza. Raph agreed with him on this point while Donnie and Mikey both insisted that even plain cheese pizza could be enjoyable, even if it was a bit boring. 

Thankfully, their tastes were more similar than different, and on more chill nights like this one, none of them really minded sharing just as long as they still got their fair share. After all, the four brothers had been living together (and eating pizza together) long enough to know the perfect combination of toppings to satisfy everyone despite their varying tastes without even needing to think about it: Extra sauce, extra cheese, pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions and - if they were all in the mood for it that night - olives.

“Mmmm~” Raphael hummed, “Nothin’ like the first bite of a hot fresh slice, eh boys?”

“True that, brother. True that,” Mikey agreed while his other two brothers simply nodded, not wanting to pause their eating to answer vocally. Not that Raph could really blame them, he could hardly wait to take his next bite himself!

Though, this second bite wasn’t nearly as satisfying as the first, because as soon as he pulled his mouth away from the slice, a long piece of cheese stretched out from it. “Hm?” Raph took another bite, hoping for his teeth to cut the cheese line off, but failed as even more hot cheese stretched out from the slice, causing the slice to droop and the toppings to begin sliding off. Growling slightly in frustration, Raph took yet another bite, putting all his natural jaw-strength into it before pulling away for the third time.

This time it was a clean bite, but perhaps a bit too big. In his efforts to try and not have anymore strings, he ended up pulling most of the cheese and the toppings that adorned it right off the slice and into his mouth! Sure, it was delicious, but at the same time Raph couldn’t help but sigh as he looked down at his now bare, droopy, sauce and grease slice of pizza.

“Man, I hate when that happens,” Mikey said sympathetically while Leo tried to hide his snickers. (He might have felt a bit bad for his big bro, but that didn’t mean the situation wasn’t still funny.)

“You know, you could always just use a fork to cut your cheese so you don’t drag all the toppings off,” Donatello reminded him, lifting his own fork.

Raph scoffed slightly. “Tc’ch, yeah, if I wanted to be fancy.”

Donnie rolled his eyes. Not this argument again. “Excuse me if I don’t want to get my hands all greasy when the toppings are heavy and the crust is way too thin. It’s not like I eat pizza with a fork ALL the time! And look, if making the totally logical decision to eat a slice that’s going otherwise practically fall apart in my hands with a fork and knife is ‘fancy’ then fine, I’m  _fancy~!_ ” With that, the purple turtle took a giant bite of his own slice, his way of saying “This conversation is over”.

Raph, still smirking a bit, just shrugged it off. “Whatever you say, Donnie.”

“You know,” Mikey spoke up, “When I’ve got a really thin slice of pizza and everything’s about to slide off it, I just fold it up and eat it like a taco! It’s kinda like eating a calzone, just with not as much crust.”

“Huh, not a bad strategy,” Donnie admitted. But after a moment of thought, he grimaced. “Buuuut won’t all the grease just pool in the middle of the slice?”

“Well, yeah, but only if you don’t eat it fast enough.” And with a turtle like Mikey, not eating something fast enough was never an issue.

“I say, if your pizza starts falling apart, just stick it back in the oven!” Leo suggested as he tossed the last bit of his slice into his mouth, “I mean, if a slice is all droopy then that just means it wasn’t cooked right. A few minutes in the oven, and boom! Just as stable as thick crust with plenty of flavor to boot!”

“I definitely understand overcooking something a bit to give it added flavor,” Mikey told him, thinking back to all the various cooking shows he had watched that suggested this very thing, “But with pizza that thin and wet, wouldn’t it be way too easy to burn?”

“Hey, sometimes I like my pizza on the burnt and crunchy side!” Leo shrugged.

“I can respect that,” Raph nodded, “Just as long as it’s still actually edible and stuff.”

“Well, I personally still prefer the savory taste over a charcoal aftertaste any day,” Donnie lightly argued, “Even if the former is super greasy. Though, it’s things like this that really show how superior hand-tossed, thick crust pizzas are to thin ones.” Raph nodded enthusiastically at that while Leo and Mikey just shrugged. Personally, Leo sort of preferred thin crust, and Mikey just liked all pizza in general no matter the crust. But hey, to each their own.

As the four brothers moved onto their second slices, Raph spoke up once more. “Hey, so, we’re all in agreement that the crust is the best part of the pizza, right? Cause it definitely is, no question.”

“Oh yeah, bro! Totally!” Mikey grinned. Flipping his slice upside down, he carefully squished it down with his thumb, squeezing some of the extra sauce out of the slice and onto his plate. “And it’s even better when you’ve got sauce to dip it in! It’s like a breadstick that way! Oh, and when you’ve got stuffed crust pizza, when you get to the crust and you’ve got sauce, it’s practically like having two slices of pizza in one!”

“It’s Pizzaception,” Leo quipped, earning a high five from Mikey.

“But if the crust is done right, then you don’t even need sauce!” Raph told them, “It’s a fluffy, crunchy, garlic-y piece of perfection all on it’s own!”

“Okay, I totally get where you’re coming from,” Donnie began, “But depending on how big the slice is or if the pizza’s too overcooked, by the time you get to the crust it could seem so stale and bland that you end up just tossing it on your plate and wasting it.”

“And that’s why you start eating the crust right when you start getting close to it and eat it WITH the pizza instead of after it!” Leo told him, “That’s how pizza should be eaten!”

“No way, Leo!” Raph insisted, “You always gotta save the best for last! Not eating the crust last is like-! Like… Like doing somethin’ else totally out of order! You gotta save the crust for last!”

“Ugh, what- _ever_ ,” Leo leaned back, “I still say that I’m eating pizza the right way.” As if to demonstrate this, he turned his slice and held it horizontally as he bit right on the line between the crust and the toppings. “Mmmm~”

“Fine, fine, suit yourself, Leo,” Raph told him, holding his hands up, “Just don’t be blaming me if your last bite isn’t nearly as great as it should be and you feel all empty inside.”

“Uh, I don’t think any of us are going to be feeling empty anytime soon,” Donnie commented, smirking and grabbing his final slice of the extra large pizza before anyone else could snatch it, “And I could not be happier.”

“Boys?” a voice suddenly called out from one of their lair’s many sewer openings.

“We’re down here, Pops!” Raph yelled back. Within a couple minutes, Splinter made his way into the sitting room. His nose was already twitching from the leftover scent of the pizza, and he couldn’t help but stare at the almost empty box as he stretched.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got yours right here, Dad!” Mikey said quickly as he held up the much smaller box, not wanting their father to think that he had been forgotten just because he had been napping. Splinter smiled. Such good boys.

“Thank you, Orange,” he said, taking the box before opening it and licking his lips at the sight. “Ahh. Extra cheese, extra thin crust, no sauce and no toppings. Nothing but cheesy goodness, just the way I like it!” As the rat-man made his way to his armchair and the tv, the four brothers couldn’t help but share a look.

They loved their dad, there was no doubt about that, and they respected his tastes just as much as they respected each others. …Buuuuuut- “Thank goodness we don’t have to share our pizzas with Dad,” Mikey whispered.

“Oh, I am SO with you there,” Leo nodded, as did his brothers.

“Finally something we can all agree on,” Donnie commented.

“Same,” Raph added, “I mean, how is pizza without sauce on it even a thing?!”

“I don’t know, man… I just don’t know.”


	2. Rocks Machines (and Video Games)

For some, being alone in a dark room for hours on end would get boring - lonely, even.

But for a turtle like Donatello, it was practically the perfect recipe for a _perfect_ weekend, especially with all the ideas he had gotten throughout the week but hadn’t had the time to work on.

Mumbling various calculation under his breath, Donnie continued to work on his blueprint sketches. Their turtle tank was indeed a success, but there was always room for improvement. “Besides, we’re gonna need something if we’re going to stand a chance against any arial mutants we might come across,” he told himself as he erased a couple lines and numbers, “Maybe a blimp. Or- no! A jet! _Multiple_ jets! Mini jets! Yes!” Grinning, he flipped his pencil around in his fingers, twirling it as gracefully and precisely as he would his tech-bo staff, and began sketching once more.

Though, perhaps he might have been a bit TOO eager. No sooner had he started did the lead in his pencil break. But thankfully, it was only a small problem. One of the metal spider legs from his battle shell immediately shot out in order to grab-

“HEY!”

Donnie flinched at the sudden shout. Turning his head, he saw his big brother quickly step aside to avoid getting poked by the metal limb as it grabbed a nearby pencil sharpener. “Oh! Sorry Raph, didn’t see you there,” he apologized.

“It’s cool,” Raph told him, the annoyed expression on his face quickly fading away, “Say Don, you’ve beaten _Resident Evil 4_ , right?”

“Uh, yeah? A couple times actually, why?”

“Think you can give me a hand with this puzzle then?” Raph asked, “It’s really starting to give me a headache, especially when all I’m tryin’ to do is get to the next boss fight already!”

Donnie frowned, but held back his sigh as he stood up from his desk. “Yeah, I’ll help you out.”

“Great!” Raph smiled, “Thanks, man.”

“Yep. No problem.” After all, one little puzzle - and, if he recalled correctly, one frustrating water level - wouldn’t take too long to figure out.

About half an hour passed by the time Donnie returned to his lab. Stretching his arms, the softshell smiled to himself as he sat back down. “I guess that was a nice little break…” But now it was back to business! He took a couple moments to read through his various notes and side-notes just to get himself back in his zone before once again grabbing his pencil (now sharpened) and getting to work.

“Alright, they’ll need to be compact. Wouldn’t want to hit any buildings… Compact, but fast. Durable too. Maybe lightweight titanium bodies? Hmm, but what about weapons?” He began sketching out a sort of shuriken launcher when he felt someone leaning on his back, their arms folded on top of his head.

“Hey bro,” Leo greeted, “What’chu up to?”

“Working,” Donnie answered dryly, “Now get off.” He heard his brother chuckle lightly as he ignored the request. 

“Working on what?” Leo asked, “The drill?”

That time, Donnie did let himself sigh. “No, still in beta." He really did need to finish that thing at some point. "But, what I _am_ working on is something I’d like to get back to work on as soon as possible, so what do you need?”

“Don’t worry, knowing you it’ll only take like ten minutes,” the smooth-talking red-eared slider insisted, “I just need your help on this boss fight!”

“Seriously?” Donnie scowled.

“I know what you’re gonna say, but I swear I’m not doing this just to bug you,” Leo said. He even got off his brother to let him know how serious (or at least, as serious as Leo could get) he was. “I swear I’ve tried, like, every strategy I can think of with this guy! Every keyblade, every move, every spell - I don’t even think he has any weak points! So come on, just help me out real quick!”

Donnie rolled his eyes. Honestly, were his brothers so lazy that they couldn’t just look up walkthroughs online? But, knowing that the blue turtle wouldn’t take no for an answer, Donnie once again left his work behind. “Alright, fine. Show me the boss.”

“Thanks Don,” Leo grinned, “Like I said, it’ll probably only take ten minutes. Fifteen, tops!”

“Uh huh, sure.”

It was _forty-five_ minutes later when Donnie finally managed to return to his lab, clearly still a bit aggravated and more than ready to get back to his plans. Though admittedly he couldn’t completely blame Leo for asking for his help, since the _Kingdom Hearts_ boss fight had indeed been as hard as his brother had said it was, requiring a lot more than strategy and button-mashing to finish. And, Leo had thanked him for all his hard work... But he still had a right to be annoyed, right?

Taking a deep breath, Donnie sat back in his chair. “Okay Donnie, focus…” It took him a bit to get back into his inventing mindset, but once he was in his groove it was practically smooth sailing. And, as if karma was making up for the previous interruptions, he was able to sketch out a preliminary design that he was satisfied with in under ten minutes.

“Yep, not bad at all,” he told himself. But now it was time for the fun part: The calculations and the measurements and physics formulas and of course-

Suddenly, his ninja senses perked up, catching the sound of feet walking cautiously into his lab. “...Of course,” Donnie said flatly, dropping his pencil. Turning his chair around, he saw Mikey coming towards him with his orange, sticker covered DS in his hands and a sheepish look on his face.

“Hey, Dee? Think you can help me out with this Ghetsis guy?” he asked, “They always make the ending fights of the _Pokemon_ games so hard, you know?”

“Yeah, sure,” Donnie nodded, already on his feet, “Why not.” Honestly, why couldn’t his brothers ask someone else to help with their games for once?

Nevertheless, he led his younger brother to his messy futon, moving a few papers and tools out of the way before taking a seat. “Okay, first off, what level is your team at?”

“They’re in the fifties, so I’m not underleveled or anything, but he’s still totally kicking my butt!” Mikey told him, taking a moment to shoot a glare at his pixelated antagonist.

“Good, then let’s just focus on strategy and speed. Show me the items you’ve got.” “Right!”

For the next twenty minutes, the two of them prepared, planned, shopped and even leveled up just a bit more before finally facing the villain once more. Mikey stuck his tongue out in concentration as played each move carefully rather than just going for the big and flashy moves right away. As for Donnie, he of course stayed and watched the battle, but didn’t remind Mikey of their strategy unless he was asked, knowing that Mikey would want to mostly do it on his own.

It was close. VERY close. In fact, if it weren’t for a bit of luck and a couple well timed critical hits, it might have all been for naught. But, with a victorious grin and one final Blizzard from his faithful Bearctic, Trainer Mikey had won!

“YES! YesyesyesYES! Finally!” The box-turtle cheered, practically hugging his DS.

“Yep, told you our plan was unbeatable,” Donnie nodded, a light smile on his face. (When Mikey was in a good mood, it was practically impossible for even the grumpiest turtle to resist joining in.)

Turning to his purple brother, Mikey quickly pulled him into a tight hug. “Thanks, Dee! You’re the best!”

“...” Donnie sighed as he returned the hug, though this sigh wasn’t nearly as heavy. “Yeah yeah.” Oh who was he kidding? As annoying as it was sometimes, he loved being the one to help guide his brothers to their virtual victories.

“Heh, guess I should start preparing for the Elite Four next, huh?” Mikey asked as he ended the hug, making sure to save his progress.

“Yep,” Donnie nodded as he made himself comfortable, “And you’re DEFINITELY gonna want to prepare for them. First off, you’re gonna wanna start grinding now, especially your Scrafty.” "Got it! WOO! Elite Four, here we come!"


	3. Fresh Water

He could hear thunder in the distance. He could feel the rain getting heavier. He knew it would be time to head back home soon. And yet, the blue turtle refused to pull himself into the dry - much too dry - apartment.

“Leo, come on, it’s been fifteen minutes,” he heard April say from inside.

“I know, I know. But… Look, just give me five more minutes,” Leo asked, “Pleaaaase?”

April rolled her eyes. “Fine. But if my carpet starts getting wet, you’re gonna be the one cleaning it up, got it?”

“Yeah, I got it!” Leo told her, waving her off as he closed his eyes. A gust of wind brought a splash of refreshing rain right into his face. He sighed happily and leaned forward just a bit more- 

Suddenly, a hand grabbed the cuff of his shell and pulled him back. Only a couple inches, though it was still enough to annoy him. “Hey! April, I said-!”

“You can let yourself get soaked all you want,” Donnie began to say, pulling his hand back and crossing his arms, “But tossing yourself out the window is where I draw the line.”

Leo shook his head. Always so dramatic with this guy. “Okay. One, I wasn’t going to fall. And two, even if I DID fall, I would’ve caught myself. I’ve got mad ninja skills, remember?”

“Uh huh, sure,” Donnie said as he made his way back towards the couch, “And uh, did those ‘mad skills’ save you when you tripped over your own feet and nearly fell off that bridge last week?” Leo shot him a ‘shut up’ glare, though still refused to pull his head inside.

Knowing that she wouldn’t miss anything during a commercial break, April took out her phone and clicked on the weather app. “You know, it’s not like this rain is gonna stop anytime soon. You’re gonna get plenty of it on the way home, so why do you need to ‘enjoy’ it now?” Though, maybe it was just a turtle thing, but she couldn’t imagine being soaked by rain being fun in ANY way.

“What can I say?” Leo smirked, “There’s just somethin’ about a fresh rain fall that-” He took a moment to stretch his arms out, tossing his head back and his face up towards the cloudy skies. “Ahh, that just makes a guy feel so relaxed~ ...Besides, it's not like there's any clean lakes or rivers around here that I can take a dip in. Sometimes a guy's gotta take what he can get."

"Alright, that I can kinda understand. But, I mean, I DO have a bathtub here, you know."

"Mmm, thanks but no thanks," the red-eared slider said as he stretched again, "It's just not the same."

“Whatever you say, Leo,” April shrugged. Catching a flash of light from the corner of her eye, she noticed that Mayhem was no longer sitting in his pet bed. Instead, he was now sitting on Leo’s head, trying to catch raindrops on his tongue.

“See! He gets it!”

By the time their show had ended, the rain outside had become even heavier, with the distant thunder and lightning getting louder by the second. Leo might not have been afraid of thunderstorms, but he still knew that lightning was nothing to mess around with - especially when his brother had so much metal on him. So, when Donnie suggested they leave, Leo reluctantly agreed.

But, that didn’t stop him from enjoying the rain as much as he could on their run home, grinning widely as he dashed through it and waiting until the last possible second to go underground. He slid to a stop once they reached a loose manhole cover - literally, though he did manage to catch himself before falling. “See?” he grinned, “I got skills.”

Donnie just chuckled, rolling his eyes once more as they took the metal cover off. "Sure you do, pal." 

Leo jumped down the pipe first, then Donnie crawled in, letting his feet rest on the metal bars hidden in the darkness below. But, before letting himself drop, he lifted the cover up just a bit more. He leaned forward into the rain, just a bit. He closed his eyes and let himself enjoy the cool water hitting his face. He let himself enjoy the feel and even the smell of the rain and wind, allowing it to chill him to the bone while also making him feel completely at home, if only for a moment.

“...” He sighed, and shook the rain off his face before finally letting himself fall into the sewers, the echoing of a loud metal  ***clang!*** following him down. 

\-----------

“Ughhhhhhhh…” How could the weather be practically perfect one day and then absolutely miserable the next? Maybe there was some scientific reason for it. He wondered if Donnie knew.

Though, if Leo was being honest, he didn’t want to do ANYTHING today, let alone listen to one of his genius brother’s science lectures that he only ever half-understood anyway. A massive heat wave was spreading across New York, one so intense that even the normally cool and shady sewers seemed to be affected. 

“This is the worrrrrrrst…” Leo moaned, unable to resist the urge to complain, even if no one was around to hear him. It was summer days like this where he wanted nothing more than to dive into the sewer waters and not get out until Autumn, not caring how dirty his so-called private underground river was or how sick he’d mostly likely get from it. 

But, thankfully, Leo wasn’t THAT desperate. ...Yet.

“...Still wallowing in your humidity-fueled depression?” a familiar voice asked. Leo scowled, tilting his head back to see the flat look his soft-shelled brother was giving him. 

“Oh ha ha, make fun of the guy who’s dying. Real nice, Don.”

“You’re not dying, Leon.”

The blue turtle’s scowl quickly turned into a glare at that. “Oh come on, don’t act like you don’t think this weather totally sucks or that you’re not completely miserable with all this humidity!”

“Oh I am,” Donnie stated, “We’re definitely in agreement that this situation has reached ‘maximum suckiness’.” (Leo would’ve laughed at that if not for his bad mood.) “But, I’ve actually decided to be productive about it. You’re welcome.” With that, Donnie grabbed his brother by the shoulders, forcing him to sit up as he strapped something to his head.

“What the- hey!” Leo began to squirm, growling each time Donnie swatted his head away. “Dad said you aren’t allowed to experiment on us so just knock it-!”

A sudden blast of water in his face caused Leo to freeze long enough for Donnie to finish adjusting the headband. “There,” he told him. It was a bit tricky, but Leo was able to look up and see the metal water spritzer now hanging off his head. “You’ve got enough water in there to last anywhere from two to four hours. Just remember that you need to actually drink water to if you really want to stay hydrated, but this should definitely help keep you cool. It’ll spray you every five minutes, but you can turn this knob here to adjust the spraying frequency to your liking.”

“...” After a couple seconds of stunned silence, Leo gave his brother a smile. “Thanks, Donnie.”

“If this stops you from complaining about the heat all the day, then that’ll be plenty of thanks for me,” Donnie retorted, though even if his tone was his usual snarkiness, the light smile on his face gave away his true feelings, “Just don’t break it, alright?”

Leo chuckled. “Got it.” Now having the energy for it, Leo got up and headed towards the game room while Donnie walked back into his lab - and it was there that Donnie put on his own spraying headband, placing it right under his goggles. Another light smile crossed his face as the quick burst of cold water hit him.

Maybe he wasn’t the type of turtle who stood out in the rain, but sometimes he just had to agree with his little brother.

Sometimes all a guy needed was some fresh water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to Wikipedia, red-eared sliders and softshell turtles spend a lot of time in water, so I figured their mutant counterparts would love it just as much ^v^


	4. A Slice of Defeat

Loud laughter echoed through the sewer pipes as a television audience applauded. “Oh man,” Splinter chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye, “This show just never gets old!” And to think, he had once thought that television was nothing more a waste of time when compared to training. And sure, training and keeping his skills sharp was definitely important, but when he also had four rowdy boys to take care of and teach, sometimes he just needed a bit of time to be lazy and forget his troubles for an hour or two.

And speaking of his boys, his sharp hearing (an advantage of having rat ears, he supposed) told him that they were on their way home, their slow footsteps traveling down the southern pipeline. Splinter glanced over at a clock. “A late night,” he mumbled. Then again, late nights weren’t exactly unusual for the ninjas-in-training, so he wasn’t too concerned.

...That is, until he heard the moans and whimpers of his sons.

“Hm?” Curious enough to look away from his game show, Splinter leaned over the side of his chair. “Boys?” he called out. He only received more moans in response. His tail began to twitch. Something was definitely wrong…

Slowly but surely, the four turtles walked into their lair, swaying and careening with each heavy step. Now that they were properly in the light, he could see that they didn’t have any injuries (none that were visible, at least), but he could also see the pained expressions on their faces…

Raph was gripping his mid-section tightly, Donnie looked pale and had to lean on his tech-bo staff for support, and both Leo and Mikey looked like they were about to cry as they gritted their teeth. And, as soon as all four of them made it to the living room, they collapsed onto the floor.

By this point, Splinter was standing on his chair, eyes wide with fear and concern. “What happened?!” he demanded as he hopped down onto the floor. He cupped his youngest’s face, wiping away a stray tear. “Was it a mutant attack? An ambush?!”

“Ugh, m-mutant,” he heard Raph began to say, “T-The mutant… secret mutant p-pi-” The red turtle groaned, clenching his eyes tightly as he curled into himself.

“Secret Mutant what?!” Splinter shouted, rubbing his snapper son’s shoulder.

“P-Pizza restaurant, urggggg…” Donnie finished. The softshell gave a whimper at just the thought of that place.

“When did we get a secret mutant pizza restaurant?” Splinter mumbled to himself. There weren’t many mutant establishments in New York, so it must’ve been fairly new. Honestly, why did no one tell him these things? The rat-man shook his head, telling himself to focus. “So you all were ambushed at the mutant restaurant?”

“N-No,” Mikey managed to say, “The… The skeleton guy… He, h-he said-”

“There was a challenge!” Leo explained, “A… a horrible, BRUTAL challenge…” He held his mid-section tighter. “So… SO brutal…”

“I see…” Splinter’s ears were folded down now. If this skeleton man tortured his boys with this so-called challenge, then there would be NO mercy! “What was this challenge? Swords? Hand-to-hand? Brass knuckles? Fire?! A challenge by fire?!”

Leo began to shake, his eyes filled with horror as he recalled it. “N-No, no… It was the… the… the-!”

 _“The minotaur-sized pizza pie challenge!”_ Mikey wailed.

“...” Within seconds, Splinter’s face went from horrified, to confused, to absolutely furious. “You have GOT to be kidding me!”

Raph shook his head. “One hour to eat a p-pi-” He burped, groaning again. “Ugh, p-pizza the size of your table, a-and if ya finished it, you and your family could eat there for free for a year! A whole year, Pops!”

“It started out good,” Leo sniffled, “So, SO good… The cheese was so melty, and the crust was cooked perfectly! All the toppings we could ask for…”

“We were blinded by pride and our own hunger!” Donnie said suddenly, rolling onto his back and dramatically throwing his arms up towards the ceiling. “We ate slice after delicious slice, but we flew too close to the sun… We weren’t even halfway finished with the stupid thing at thirty minutes!”

“And when we only had fifteen minutes left to finish it, that’s when it got _really_ painful,” Mikey concluded, “Ughhhh, we were so stupidddddd…”

“Indeed.” Splinter sighed, shaking his head. “Honestly, the things I put up with… I’ll fetch the stomach medicine, but the four of you are making your own tea and dragging yourselves to bed!”

“Ughhhhh…” the four of them replied.

“And you all can expect extra push-ups in the morning!”

“UGHHHHHHH!”

Normally, Splinter had no problem being a more hands-off parent. His boys were becoming adults, after all, so they deserved the freedom to be themselves and make their own decisions. But sometimes, there were moments where he knew he had to step in and be a stern father. Besides, it served them right after making him worry so badly!

“Hmph, let this be a lesson to the four of you to not be so foolish when it comes to food!” he scolded, “It’s wasteful AND disgraceful, no matter how delicious it may be!”

“Yes, Master Splinter,” the turtles - well, three of them at least - mumbled. But as for the fourth, he slowly raised his head, giving the rat-man a bit of a curious look.

“...But Dad,” Leo began to say, “What about that time you said you could eat twelve mini cheesecakes in one sitting and then-?”

“Hush, you,” Splinter said, flicking his tail at the blue turtle.


	5. Bath Time

“Okay,” Leo spoke up as they slunk through the dark sewers, “I’m just gonna say it… Worst. Mission. _Ever_.”

“I don’t think anyone’s gonna argue with you on that one,” Donnie told him, “I’m certainly not.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Mikey nodded. He then paused, shivering as he felt something slimy slide down his back. “Ugh, SO nasty!”

“Yeah,” Raph grumbled, “This totally sucks!”

“...Don’t you mean, this totally STINKS?” Leo smirked, not even flinching when both his older and younger brothers gave him a ‘I’m gonna smack you’ look.

“We are literally covered in garbage, Leon,” Donnie told him, “Is now really the time for your bad jokes?”

“Yes! ...Hey, wait, they’re not-!” Raph and Mikey snickered, and Leo gave them each a small shove before continuing. “GOOD jokes are the perfect pick-me-up after a night like this! Besides, if you’re laughing, you’re focusing less on the smell, aren’t you?”

“I guess he’s got a point,” Raph admitted, earning a smile from the blue turtle and an eyeroll from the purple one.

“Honestly though, there’s only one thing that’s gonna put me in a good mood,” Mikey said. And, knowing exactly what he was referring to, the rest of them had to agree.

No sooner had they stepped into the sewer did they hear their father’s voice. “What is that SMELL?!”

“It’s us! Sorry, Pops!” Raph yelled back at him, “We had to fight this crazy mutant raccoon-garbage man guy!”

“And just guess what he liked to fight with!” Donnie added.

Even from all the way in the living room, they could hear their father gagging at the horrid stench, but it wasn’t as if they could blame him. After all, he had a much stronger sense of smell than the rest of them. “Bath time, now!” he demanded.

“Already on it, Dad!” Leo replied, being the first to head towards the bath, with his brothers right behind him. Group family baths had been a thing since they were babies, and while they weren’t done as frequently as they grew older, on nights like this where no one wanted to wait to get clean, there were no objections.

First was showering, naturally. In the corner, they each took off their gear and masks, placing them carefully on a dry patch of brick floor (Donnie especially was careful about this) before grabbing their bathing bucket. They then all took a seat under one of the four homemade shower heads that had been attached to the running water pipes along the walls long ago. With a single twist of a knob, they had cold, clean water raining down on them.

“Awww yeah, that’s the stuff~” Leo sighed.

“Tell me about it,” Raph agreed, already working on scrubbing the trash off him. He was bigger, so naturally he took the most time to shower - though there was someone else who was nearly as slow as him.

Donnie winced slightly as he rolled his shoulders back. The price of wearing a heavy, durable metal shell nearly twenty-four hours a day. “Ugh… Hey, can someone pass me the lotion?”

“Here ya go, bro!” Mikey smiled, tossing the bottle over to him. Donnie nodded, giving a silent thanks as he squirted a bit of the lotion on his shoulders, rubbing them gently. They were still going to be sore for a while, but at least the lavender scent relaxed him.

Next to him, his younger brother had already practically covered his shell with soap, humming happily as he scrubbed. The tune seemed familiar… “Bruno Mars?” Donnie guessed.

“Nope!” The box-turtle hummed a few bars, wanting to give each of his bros a fair shot at guessing.

“One Direction?” Leo asked.

“No way!”

“Fine, then it’s from Broadway, right? Or tv? Or it’s a meme song?”

Mikey gave him a small glare. “Come on Leo, you’re just guessing now!”

“I got it!” Raph said suddenly, “It’s Kesha! Right?”

“Yep! You got it, Raph!”

“Yes!” The snapper fistpumped, pleased with his music-related victory. “Heh… Hey, watch yourself, little bro. Your colors are running.”

“I know,” Mikey said, glancing back at his soapy shell. Sure enough, there were a couple lines of color dripping onto the floor along with all the water. “I didn’t use the long-lasting stuff this time, since I wasn’t totally sure about the design. Besides, I’ve already got a ton of ideas I wanna try out later. New colors too, and I’ve gotta have room on my shell for them!”

“Ah, okay,” Raph nodded. Feeling a hand tap his arm, he held out his hand and took the bottle of soap from Leo. Within seconds, the bottle went from half-full to totally empty. Good thing they still had another bottle of the stuff somewhere, and it was a generic brand so it’s not like replacing it would cost too much.

Letting the last of the bubbles wash off him, Leo then quickly turned off the shower and ran towards the small pool behind him. With a cheer, he dived into the bath, staying underwater for at least a full minute before finally resurfacing. The red-eared slider gave another happy sigh. This was one of the few areas in the sewer that ran clean water instead of sewage, and he would always be thankful that his dad had been the lucky one to find this hygienic oasis.

Soon enough, Mikey joined him in the water, the two of them wrestling and splashing each other a bit before settling down, wanting to actually relax some. “Man, there really is nothing better than a cold bath, you know?” Leo asked.

“It’s definitely up there,” Raph nodded, sticking his tongue out as he focused on scrubbing around his spikes, not wanting anything gross to stick around.

Donnie shrugged as he grabbed the special shell-scrub brush he had made for himself, one that was much gentler than other scrub brushes yet still got the job done efficiently. “I could think of a few things that are better. But, yeah, when you’re covered in trash and sore from a fight, baths are pretty sweet.”

“Oh, hey, speaking of baths,” Mikey began to say, “The other day I was visiting April, and she was telling me about this new foot-bath thingy her dad had bought for the two of them to use. It’s just this small tub that makes bubbles that are supposed to help sort of massage your feet, you know? Anyway, I asked if I could give it a try, and April said sure. So she filled it up and I stuck my feet in, and I practically jumped right out of my shell! It was so hot!” His brothers chuckled, able to imagine that visual perfectly.

“But April said that was how it was supposed to be, so I put my feet back in,” Mikey continued, leaning up against the wall, “but it sure wasn’t what I’d call relaxing! I think I only used it for two minutes before giving up, and even that was enough to make me feel like I was being boiled alive!”

“Makes sense,” Donnie smirked, “That’s what happens when you throw a cold-blooded turtle into hot water.”

“But, wait,” Raph started to say, raising an eyebrow in confusion, “If we’re cold-blooded, shouldn’t we want to take baths in warm water? I mean, I’m not sayin’ that I’d want to but- isn’t that weird? That we’re already cold, and then we want to be colder?”

“Cold-blooded doesn’t mean that our blood is actually cold, Raph,” Donnie explained, “It just means that we can’t regulate our body temperature as well as humans or other mammals. It all depends on our environment how warm or how cold we are. It’s why normal turtles have to sit in the sun to be warm, and why the cold is even deadlier to them than it is to humans.”

“Ohhhh!” his red and orange brothers said in understanding, making him smile.

“Yep! And as for being in cold water, that just helps us from getting too warm, and because - as Mikey had to learn the hard way - warm or hot water would just be way too big of a shock to us. And because we can’t regulate our temperature on our own, we’re practically helple- GAH!”

The softshell flinched at the sudden gush of water hitting his face. Looking down into the pool, he could see Leo with his hands cupped in a perfect water-squirting position. Donnie glared at him. “Is that your way of telling me to shut up?"

“No,” Leo grinned, “Just trying to mess with you.” With that, he dove back under the water.

Growling, Donnie quickly finished washing himself off before diving in after his annoying brother. Raph chuckled, though decided to pick up the pace in case he needed to step in.

Thankfully, the water was just relaxing enough that once Leo apologized and promised no more squirting, nearly all of Donnie’s aggravation melted away. Still, it was always hard for the softshell to relax completely, a part of his mind always on the alert for possible dangers or hazards. But, he was certainly going to try. So, he let himself sink further into the water, only leaving his nostrils, eyes and forehead exposed.

Soon enough, Raph finally joined them in the bath, keeping a washcloth wrapped around his neck. Maybe he didn’t enjoy being in water as much as his brothers, but it was nice to feel clean. Suddenly, a thought hit him. “Hey, do you think that’s why Pops usually takes a shower instead of a bath?”

“What’s why?” Mikey asked.

“The whole cold-blooded warm-blooded thing. Splinter used to be human, so that means he likes warm baths. But you can’t exactly get warm water down here in the sewers, so…”

“Oh no! Poor Dad…”

“Well, maybe he doesn’t mind it,” Donnie suggested, sticking his head up a bit, “I mean, he’s not shy about complaining about stuff, and we’ve never heard him complain about this.”

“Still, it’s gotta suck to not be able to take a bath without freezing your tail off,” Leo countered, “I mean, we’ve already established that baths are pretty great. Better than showers, at least.”

“Though, if we’re being technical, showers are more hygienic,” Donnie countered, “So at least there’s that.”

Raph hummed in thought as he leaned up against the edge of the pool. “Do rats even like taking baths? I mean, maybe the rat part of him just sorta took over the human part when it comes to baths.”

“Still, I feel kinda bad,” Mikey said, frowning at his reflection in the water before suddenly getting an idea. “Oh! We should get him a hot tub!”

Donnie raised an eyebrow. “A hot tub?”

“Yeah! Like what April has but bigger! He’d love it!”

“How do you know? Just because he was human once?”

“I mean,” Leo started to say, “Dad does seem like the kind of guy who’d enjoy just chilling in a warm bath for a while.”

“Yeah, and we could even put in like a mini tv or somethin’ to make it even better!” Raph added.

“Hold on guys, hot tubs need a TON of water," Donnie told them, “Clean water, too. And we don’t exactly have a ton of that down here. So even if he did like hot tubs, he wouldn’t even be able to use it most of the time, if at all.” Though, after a moment of thought (and after seeing his brothers’ totally disappointed faces), he continued with “Buuuuut one of those foot bath things would probably be manageable.”

Mikey grinned. “Awesome!” he cheered, “I’ll text April about it later, and she can tell us where to get one and how much it costs.”

“Hmph, hopefully Dad actually uses this gift,” Leo mumbled, remembering how their last gift to their father went over.

“Don’t worry, he’s gonna love it,” Raph insisted, earning another smile from Mikey.

As the minutes ticked on and the conversations went from ongoing to only a couple words at a time, the four turtles still refused to leave the bath, even as their minds began drifting off and as their eyelids threatened to close.

“...Ugh, actually getting out of the bath is the worst part of taking a bath,” Leo said suddenly.

“Hmph, yeah,” Raph nodded, “Cause even when you stop being relaxed and start feeling bored, or when you know you have other things to do-”

“Or when the water starts to feel just a _bit_ too cold,” Donnie added, “But not so cold that you can’t even stand it-”

“You still can’t bring yourself to get out,” Leo finished with a small sigh.

Mikey was about to nod in agreement with his big bros when he heard quick footsteps just outside the bathroom. Slowly, an eager smile spread across his face, and suddenly it seemed much easier to get out of the water. “I think I know one thing that can get us out,” he told them, already climbing out of the pool.

Having a pretty good idea what it could be, the other turtles followed, and sure enough, just outside were four freshly dried towels alongside four folded extra-large robes. They were so warm that they could practically see steam rising up from them!

“Thanks Dad!” each of them shouted, wanting their appreciation to be known even if they didn't get a reply, their father too invested in the game show returning from commercial break to do so. Snatching them up quickly, they then quickly dried themselves off with the soft towels before finally wrapping themselves up in the warm and cozy robes, making them feel even cleaner than they had in the water (as well as sleepier).

“Alright,” Leo said, smiling softly as he held back a yawn, “I take it back... Maybe there is one good thing about getting out of a bath. ...Also, we are definitely getting Dad that foot bath.”


	6. The Strength in Smiles

“Aaand that was another two points for our side! WOO!” Too happy to stand still, Mikey quickly did a couple backflip before giving his teammate a high five. “We are SO gonna win this!”

Raph chuckled at his excited youngest brother. “Yeah we are! Now, you guys sure you don’t want to just give up now?” he asked as he caught the basketball, glancing over at his other two brothers.

“ _Au contraire_ , Raphael,” Donnie told him, “This little game of ours isn’t over yet!”

“Yeah,” Leo smirked, “And, I think I can feel pretty confident in saying that you guys are SO going down!”

“Hmph, we’ll just see about that,” Raph replied, not at all affected by the red-eared slider’s trash talk, “Now come on, let’s square up!”

Not wanting to waste anymore time, the red and blue turtles met in the middle of their homemade basketball court, with Donnie and Mikey standing just a few feet behind them on their respective sides.

Leo had the ball first, and thanks to a couple quick passes to his softshell partner, he ended up making it pretty far down the court before attempting to make another basket. Unfortunately for him, Raph was right there and easily able to snatch the ball right out of the air. “Oh yeah!” he grinned, dribbling the ball as he began to run, “Like I said, we’ve got this!”

“That’s what you think!” he heard Donnie shout. Suddenly, a burst of bright purple light zoomed up to him, nearly snatching the ball away.

“HEY!” Raph growled, bouncing the ball and quickly switching his dribbling to his other hand. “You can’t use your hover-shell, Dee, that’s totally cheating!”

“Says the guy who can practically reach the hoop just by stretching!” Leo yelled from behind him, already closing in on Raph’s left side while Donnie stayed on his right.

“Let’s just call this ‘evening the playing field’,” Donnie added, giving his big bro a cocky grin from just a foot or so above him.

“Grrrr!” Being surrounded on both sides caused the snapper’s instincts to kick in. All he could focus on was running as fast as he could and making sure one of his brothers didn’t snatch the ball away from him. Unfortunately, this was just what Leo and Donnie were hopping for.

With his mind so focused on his speed and stamina, Raph was just barely watching where he was going, causing him to nearly run into a wall. “Aw man!” he groaned. This was his brothers’ plan all along, they were gonna corner him and grab the ball for an easy two-pointer! “Great, what now-?”

“Raph! Over here!” A voice called from the other side of the court. Turning his head, he could see Mikey waving his arms, completely clear for a catch. Leo and Donnie were closing in, this was his only shot… He had to make it count! So, he brought his arm back…

Like a cannon on a ship, Raph launched the orange ball as hard as he could. Hard enough to avoid being caught by his opponents. Hard enough to travel across the complete length of the court. And, unfortunately, WAY too hard to catch, its velocity barely giving Mikey enough time to even let out a yelp before it slammed right into his face, knocking him to the ground.

Raph heard himself gasp, his entire body going cold. “MIKEY!”

“Oh no,” Leo mumbled while Donnie just looked on in shock, his hands over his mouth. Within milliseconds they were racing over to him, and were somewhat relieved when they saw him sitting up, indicating that there probably wasn’t a head injury to worry about it. ...Though, that relief vanished almost immediately when they saw the bright red mark now in the middle of his face. Raph swallowed, his arms suddenly feeling like heavy, useless weights.

As for Mikey himself, he felt more shocked than anything else. It had all happened so fast that he didn’t really know what to think. All he knew for sure was that his face really, REALLY hurt… “Mikey!” The box-turtle blinked, the water in his eyes nearly spilling over.

“Are you alright?! Ugh, Mikey, I am so SO sorry!” he heard Raph say. Glancing up, he saw Leo watching over him, as if to make sure that he was still acting okay and wasn’t trying to hide anything. Donnie was getting a mini first aid kit out of his battle shell, and Raph… Oh Raph.

Maybe he wasn’t crying, but he still looked completely heartbroken as he spoke. His huge body shook, his hands clenched tightly and held strictly to his sides, not wanting to hurt anyone else. His eyes were wide with fear mixed with guilt, and if it wasn’t for the fact that it would’ve hurt his big brother even more, Mikey would’ve looked away.

“-never try to hurt you! I just wasn’t- I thought-! Ugh, I’m sorry, okay! So just- Come on, Michael, say something!”

Mikey looked at his brothers, and then down at his lap. He began to sniffle… and then snicker.

This time, it was Raph’s turn to be surprised. “Mike-?”

It was then that Mikey bursted into laughter. “O-ho, WOW! And I thought that thing only happened in cartoons! Ha, the- the ball was just like zoom and then WHAM! Haha, oh my gosh! CLASSIC slapstick, right guys?!” Maybe it wasn’t that funny, but he kept laughing. No matter how much his face hurt, he kept laughing.

“...So, you’re okay?” Donnie asked cautiously, “You don’t even need an ice pack or anything?”

“And you’re _sure_ you don’t have some kind of concussion?” Leo added, earning a scolding nudge from his purple brother.

But Mikey just giggled. “Nah, I’m good! Come on guys, you don't have to worry! I know I’m the smallest here but I’m still pretty tough, you know! Besides, I don’t even think that’s the hardest hit I’ve ever taken! So come on, let’s get back to playing already!”

“...Well, alright!” Leo shrugged, giving him a quick smile before going after the ball. Donnie left soon after, deciding to give the two of them some space when he noticed Raph not moving to stand up.

“...Mikey,” the red turtle began again, “I really am sor-”

“I know,” Mikey interrupted, “And it’s okay!”

“But…” Raph scowled, looking away. Most of the time he was proud of how strong he was - how he could knock out bad guys with a single punch, or how he could carry his whole family out of danger with ease. But during times like this, when he was _too_ strong... When he was too rough, or too careless, or simply too _big_... When he didn’t think things through or when people got hurt because of him, it was these times that strength and size suddenly didn’t seem that great at all… If he had just been more careful, if he had just held himself back just a little! If he wasn’t such a big brute, then-!

He felt a small hand on his shoulder, one just firm enough to yank him back to reality. “I meant what I said, Raph,” Mikey told him, his face one-hundred percent serious. Still red and stinging, but there were no tears to be seen. “I’m okay. It was just an accident, one that any one of us could’ve made, alright?”

Once he was standing confidently on his feet, Mikey made sure to help Raph do the same, not wanting him to feel any lower than he was already feeling. “Now come on,” he said, grinning widely now, “Let’s put those awesome muscles of yours to good use and finish kicking their shells!”

Raph stared at him for just a moment longer, just in case, before finally smiling back. “Heh...Yeah, okay…” he told him, putting an appreciative arm around his baby bro’s shoulder, “Let’s finish this game.” Mikey cheered, giving Raph a quick hug before eagerly leading the way back to the center of the court, with neither one of their smiles ever faltering for even a moment.

Even if he wasn’t always happy with his own strength, he would always be proud of the strength Mikey had - one more powerful than a hundred power-smash-no-jitsus, and always ready to be shared with others.


	7. A Lesson in Language

“Aw  _ man! _ Of all the times to go to commercial!” Mikey whined, leaning back on the couch with a pout. 

Even while patting his head in sympathy, April couldn’t help but smirk a bit in amusement. “Haven’t you guys seen this movie, like, at LEAST a dozen times? It’s not like you’re left on a cliffhanger.”

“But they still cut it off right when it was getting really good!” Leo argued, “It’s annoying!”

“At least it gives  _ some _ of us time to use the restroom without others complaining about pausing,” Donnie countered, already standing up from his seat, knowing fully well that one or more of his brothers would most likely take it by the time he returned but deciding it was worth it. 

Rolling his eyes at the current commercial playing (something about an Ultimate Shredder? Come on, how hard could it be to chop veggies?), Raph decided to get up as well. “I’m gonna get a drink. Anyone else want anything?”

“I’m good!” Mikey chimed. Leo just shook his head, distracting himself from the tv by looking at his phone. As for April, she gave a bit of a thoughtful hum before standing up.

“I’m in the mood for some chips,” she said as she followed the large snapping turtle into her kitchenette. At hearing this, Raph easily reached up and grabbed the chips from on top of the fridge, handing the bag to her before heading to the cupboard. It was then that Mayhem woke up and, curious at what the mutant turtle was doing, teleported from his pet bed to the countertop just as Raph grabbed a glass. 

Startled, he flinched just enough for the glass to start slipping from his hand. Unfortunately, when he tightened his grip to try and keeping it from falling, his strength ended up making it shatter anyway. “Grahhh,  _ chikushō _ !” Raph growled before sighing, “Sorry about that, April. It just started slippin’ and I tried NOT to break it but-”

“Oh, it’s fine, I got it!” April told him. Setting the pop bottle and her chips down on the table, she quickly grabbed the broom while Raph tried to make sure Mayhem didn’t get near the glass. “...So, what was that word you just said?” she asked as she started sweeping.

“Hm?” Raph blinked, “What word?”

“Chi- chikoyo? Or somethin’?”

“OH! That!” He chuckled a bit. “Didn’t even realized I said it. ...Though, I guess that just says somethin’ about how often I say it. But yeah,  _ chikushō _ . I dunno what it means.” Even after learning enough Japanese to carry on a casual conversation if they needed to, none of them had ever bothered trying to translate it. Frankly, it seemed funnier when they just assigned their own meanings to it. 

“Well then, how’d you learn it in the first place?”

Raph just laughed again. “How do you think?”

\-------------

It had been a tough day for Splinter, and he’d had a lot of tough days since being mutated, but this one! THIS one had taken the cake! 

First off, it was the day after Trash Day, which meant there wasn’t much food to scavenge for his family as most of it had been hauled away. Then, as he was searching near Chinatown, he was practically ambushed by a whole herd of stray cats! Of course, he could’ve easily fought the little mongrels off, but the rat part of him had been just strong enough to cause him to flee without managing to find a single morsel! 

Then, when he had finally - FINALLY - found some things that weren’t completely moldy or rotten, it had started pouring rain! Grabbing an abandoned plastic shopping bag, Splinter gathered up all the food, trying to keep it as dry as he possibly could as he ran all the way home. “You can heat wet food by a fire, right?” he mumbled to himself as he entered their home, “I mean, that’s practically like cooking a frozen dish right? Yes, that should-”

Suddenly, he felt the bag slipping somewhat, and saw that the sides of it were beginning to stretch. His eyes widened. “No, nonononono!” He rushed over to their small kitchen table, hoping to save the precious food, but alas he just wasn’t fast enough. The bottom of the plastic bag tore, and the wet food splattered to the floor. 

Unable to help himself, Splinter yelled, “ _ chikushō!”  _ and angrily slapped the ground with his tail. Then, with a sigh, he began picking up the spoiled food. Maybe he could still salvage some of it-

“What’s chi-ku-sho mean, Papa?”

And just like that, the food fell right back to the floor.

Splinter spun around, and saw his red son’s curious eyes staring back at him. “O-OH! Red! I did not see you there! Ah, are you and your brothers having a good night? You are all staying out of trouble, yes?”

“Uh huh. What’s chi-ku-sho mean?” Raph repeated.

Splinter cringed. Something that cute and innocent looking really shouldn’t have been cursing… “Well, um, it, ah… Well, never you mind what it means.”

The young snapping turtle gave a pout, his face scrunching up in both confusion and annoyance. “But pop, you teach us words all the time!” And this was true, he had taught them how to say _ohayou_ and _oyasumi_ and even _itadakimasu_. 

There was also the nicknames he would give them when he was feeling particularly affectionate, the Japanese lullabies he’d sometimes sing to them, and even moments where, if his mind was just too tired or frazzled to remember, he would use the Japanese version of a specific word or phrase until he could properly translate himself. They knew a whole bunch of Japanese from their papa! “So how come ya can’t teach me chi-ku-?”

“Please stop saying it,” Splinter mumbled, rubbing his temples. He gave another sigh before continuing. “Alright, Red One, listen to me. I will not give you the meaning of the word because it is a, ah, bad word. A not very nice word, at all.”

“Then how come you said it?” 

The rat man facepalmed. “ _ Walked right into that one, didn’t I _ … Well, saying bad words can be considered a bad habit - something you do that you know is bad and that you try to stop doing, even though it is hard. And I do not want you to copy my bad habit, understand?”

Raph thought for a moment before nodding. Splinter smiled, giving him a small pat on the head. “Good, so no more saying that word. Got it?”

“Got it!” 

...Of course, promising something and actually following through with it were two VERY different things - especially to a six year old. And, less than a week later, Raph broke that promise while playing a racing game with his little brother when he accidentally rammed his virtual car right into a wall. 

“Don’t tell Pop, okay?” Raph said, “And don’t say it either, otherwise we’re both gonna get in trouble! Got it, Leo?”

“Don’t worry, I got it!” Leo grinned, “No problem!” And for what it was worth, the young red-eared slider did have it. 

...For a few hours, at least.

“So Donnie, guess what I learned from Raph! I guess it’s some kinda bad Japanese word he learned from Dad? It’s chi, ah, chiku-sho, or something like that.”

Donnie glanced up from the third grade science textbook his father had found for him while scavenging. “Oh, that word? Yeah, I’ve heard him say that too.”

Leo’s face fell a bit. “You have?”

“Yeah, the last time a storm knocked out his tv."

“Aw man,” Leo pouted. And here he was thinking that he finally knew something that his genius brother didn’t. “Hmph… So, do you know what it means?”

“No idea,” Donnie replied, turning a page, “but whatever  _ chikushō  _ means, it probably doesn’t matter that much.” Did curse words even have meanings? He didn’t know, though if he was more interested in languages than sciences, it might have made for an interesting research project. ‘Though, probably not NEARLY as interesting as weather patterns and planet atmospheres,’ the softshell thought to himself, smiling a bit as he turned another page.

Leo blew a raspberry, and glanced up at the metal ‘ceiling’ above them. “Still, I wonder what makes it so bad anyway… Can’t be THAT bad if Dad knows it, but he said it was bad so… Man, words are weird.” He scowled, pretending to be angry before spitting out a “ _ chikushō!”  _ After a moment, he giggled. “Though it is kinda fun to say! Chi-ku-shoooo…”

“Chi-ku-shoooo!”

Both boys froze. Slowly, they looked up to see the innocent, slightly smudged with crayon face of their baby brother smiling back at him. 

“...Uh oh.”

“We are in SO much trouble!”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘we’? You were the one shouting it!”

“But you were saying it too! Ugh, okay-” Quickly, Leo stood up and walked over to Mikey, gently grabbing him by the shoulders. “Mikey, listen to me. You can’t say that word in front of Papa, or Raphie! Okay, buddy?”

“Kayyy.” With that, the four year old wandered off as soon as his big brother let him go, seemingly brushing the moment off like it had never even happened.

Turning back to his other brother, Leo flashed a grin at him. “See! Problem solved!” Donnie just gave him a flat look, not convinced whatsoever. 

Thankfully, for the next week, there weren’t any incriminating incidents involving what the boys had decided to dub as ‘the C word’. A couple close calls, but they each had managed to stop themselves from saying  _ it _ just before their dad’s sensitive ninja-rat ears could catch them. 

As Sunday rolled around, luck had decided to strike their little family. Splinter had found a twenty dollar bill that had slipped down into the sewer grate. A bit damp, but otherwise still usable. And, thanks to a shadowy overcoat and a fedora that he had found in the dump, he was able to venture out into the crowded streets of New York and pick his boys up a special treat.

“Whoaaaaaaa~!” On one corner of their little table was a bowl of bright green leaves with various chopped up veggies and some shredded cheese adorning it. On the other corner, a small box of baked bread with cheese melting on top of it, making it look MUCH more appealing than just regular bread. But, neither one of these dishes could compare to the pizza sitting in the center, beautiful and delicious-looking enough to make them literally drool. 

“Now,” Splinter started to say, “You may each have two-”

“I call the first slice!” Leo shouted, leaping over his brothers.

"Wait, Blue-!"

“Hey!” Raph yelled, trying to grab him, “I want it!”

"Red-!"

“No, me!” Donnie argued, pushing past his brothers to reach the table. Mikey was right behind him, shouting “Mine! Mine!” over and over.

Each of their hands reached the box at what appeared to be the same time, though while the others grabbed the actual box , Leo went for a slice. However, the pizza was much hotter than he anticipated. With a yelp, he backed up, causing his brothers to do the same - as well as for the box to be pulled right to the edge of the table.

Splinter gasped, trying to grab the box. The turtles tried as well, but they were all just too slow, and in horror they watched as the once-glorious pizza fell to the floor. A couple slices managed to remain in the box, but the rest was completely ruined. 

And, through all their anger, frustration, sadness and disappointment that they felt, the four turtles could only think of one word that could express all this:

**“** **_Chikushō!”_ **

...It was funny. The sewers were always pretty quiet, but in that moment, they were almost deathly silent. 

Raph’s and Leo’s eyes widened. Donnie covered his mouth with his hands, and Mikey just looked to his hands, squeezing them tightly and mumbling a tiny “Uh oh…”. One by one, they looked up at their father, hoping to look as apologetic as possible. Thankfully, Splinter didn’t seem too angry. If anything, he just looked tired.

“...Okay, okay,” he began, “I know that… perhaps this is partially my fault for not watching what I say around you four. And I understand how things can get passed along in a family.” He then gave Raph a bit of a look. “Though, I also would have thought that the warning that I gave you would have been passed along as well…”

Raph looked away, his eyes getting a bit watery. He didn’t want his dad to be mad at him!

“Wait! It was!” Leo spoke up, quickly getting both his father’s and his big brother’s attention, “H-He did tell us that it was a bad word and that we shouldn’t say it! But, um-”

“But, but sometimes it’s just hard not to say something,” Donnie added, “W-When it’s already in your mind. It’s like, a slip on your tongue! Or, or slipping off your tongue? Something like that…”

“We’re sorry, papa,” Mikey told him, with his brothers quickly apologizing as well.

“...Well, I appreciate you all apologizing and taking responsibility,” Splinter said, giving them all a small smile before looking stern once more, knowing that he would have to be responsible, as well. “But understand that if I hear any of you saying it again, you will be punished.”

Despite the warning, they all perked up a bit. “So, we’re not gonna get punished for it tonight?” Raph asked. 

“No, no… I think this is enough of a punishment already.” Splinter then picked up the fallen box and it’s slices, though didn’t clean up any of the sauce or cheese that had splattered onto the floor. He cut the two not-ruined slices into even slivers and placed each one in front of a turtle. He also bowled out even amounts of the salad - a healthy and nutritious dish for growing mutants, though pretty bland and boring when compared to pizza - before taking the cheese bread for himself. “Enjoy your supper, and make sure you all help clean the floor when you’re done eating.”

The boys groaned, pouting and grimacing as they stared down at their new meal, but nodded anyway. “Yes Papa…” 

\--------------

April chuckled, shaking her head. “Aw man, having to clean the floor AND eat salad? Pretty harsh for kids.”

“Yyyyep,” Raph nodded, “He wanted to make sure we learned our lesson, I guess.”

Hearing Leo and Mikey shout from the living room that the movie was coming back on, the two of them picked up their pace and began leaving the kitchenette. Though, before they were submerged back into the cheesy sci fi world of Jupiter Jim, April still had one last question to ask:

“So… How long did it take for you guys to start saying it again?”

Raph smirked back at her. “About five minutes after we heard Pops say it again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Considering how laid back and sorta rough around the edges this Splinter is, he definitely seems like the type of parent who would forget not to curse in front of his kids, whether it was in English or not, lol


	8. Color Theory

“...So, do you guys ever think about what it would be like if he had different colors?”

Raph blinked. Glancing up from the comic he was reading, he gave his younger brother a look. “Well that was kinda random.”

Leo shrugged. “I was bored, and the question just came to me, so why not ask it?”

Grabbing the pipe he was hanging off with his hands, Mikey sat himself up. “So you mean, like, if our skin was a darker green or a different color entirely or something?” he asked. Almost immediately, the image popped into his head of the four of them having peach or brown or tan skin like humans while still having their turtle features. Would that make them look more human or less human? Mikey wasn’t sure, but it did seem like a sort of cool idea to sketch out sometime. 

Leo shook his head. “No, I mean if we had different mask colors. Like, if I was something else instead of Blue.”

Mikey frowned. “But… Why would you want to be a different color?”

“I don’t WANT to be one, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to think about,” Leo told him. Funny, he would’ve thought that as the artist of the family, Mikey would’ve been all over this idea.

“Huh, yeah I get what you mean,” Raph nodded. Closing his comic up, he glanced over at one of his dad’s ninja movie posters. “Like, what if we all had sweet black masks? Or- or what if my mask was somethin’ really cool like gold! Or a sleek dark grey, or that one color that’s sorta purple and also sorta red, or pink!

Leo snorted. “Pink?”

Raph shot him a small glare. “What? I could pull off pink! It’s just a different shade of red, isn’t it? Mikey?”

“Huh? Oh. Yeah, that’s right, Raph.” 

“Hmm, I have always kinda wondered what I’d look like yellow, or maybe some other color that’s like, the complete opposite of blue…” Leo looked up at Mikey, and then over at Raph, who quickly grinned back his little brother. Quickly, the two of them started undoing their masks. “Come on, Mikey, get down here!”

Mikey winced slightly, but climbed down anyway, not wanting to disappoint his brothers. Once his feet were safely on the concrete ground of their lair, he took off his mask and passed it off to Raph, keeping his eyes low. In turn, Raph passed his mask to Leo, and Leo tossed his over to Mikey. One by one, they each re-covered their faces before getting out their phones and putting them in ‘selfie mode’ in order to get a proper look at themselves. Mikey took a bit longer to do this, his eyes stuck on his brothers. They still looked like themselves, yet still so different...

“Huh, not bad!” Raph said, tilting his head slightly. His little bro’s mask was a lot smaller than his, so he definitely wasn’t used to seeing this much of his forehead. Still, while orange wasn’t that different from red, it was enough of one to satisfy his curiosity. 

Leo hummed, not nearly as pleased with his new look. “Man, your mask kinda washes out my stripes,” he told Raph, touching the red marks on his cheeks, “I bet from a distance, it would just look like I was wearing on of those masquerade masks or something.”

“Oh yeah, I could sort of see that,” Raph nodded, “Though, does that have to be a bad thing?”

“I guess not. Still, red-on-red doesn’t really work for me. Now purple-on-red, THAT could maybe work! Heh, maybe we should try to drag Donnie into this just to see, don’t you think, Mikey?”

When he didn’t get a reply, Leo looked back over at Mikey. The box-turtle was staring into his phone, not looking nearly as happy as his brothers. In fact, he looked like he was a few seconds away from going into his shell and never coming out. “...Heh, come on, Mike. Blue’s not that bad of a color, is it?” Leo joked.

“Oh! No, no blue is a great color,” Mikey told him, forcing a smile despite not even looking up, “No, it’s just…”

“...Different?” Raph finished for him. 

Mikey nodded. “Yeah… Different.” He just couldn’t stop staring at himself, the unfamiliar mask framing his eyes and just making him look completely wrong…

He began to recall what he had read about the color blue from the art books he had found in Splinter’s study one afternoon. Blue symbolized things like loyalty, confidence and intelligence, traits that Mikey could easily associate with Leo. Blue was stable, masculine even, while still being calming, especially this particular shade was like water, bright and vibrant but still having a bit of depth to it. Blue was a good color. Great, even! 

But it wasn’t Mikey’s color. 

Mikey scowled slightly at himself (both metaphorically and literally). He told himself that he was overreacting and ruining his brothers’ good time. Colors were colors, and he wore different colors - including blue - all the time when he painted them on his chest and shell! It wasn’t that big of a deal! …And yet, at the same time, it was.

Because that was his body, and this was his face. His mask. His life color. His _ identity _ . He was Orange, and yet he was wearing blue, and it was wrong, wrong,  _ wrong _ -!

“Michael.” Mikey blinked, finally looking up from his screen. He saw the three-fingered hand holding his mask out to him before he saw Leo’s bare face smiling at him. “Wanna switch back?”

“...” Slowly, Mikey smiled back. It was small, but it was genuine. “Yes, please.”

It took him only a second for him to take off the blue mask and put his own back on. Looking back down at his phone, Mikey felt himself almost immediately start to relax, his smile returning tenfold. All because he was wearing orange. Warm, joyful, bright, fiery Orange.

“Yeahhh, other colors are pretty cool,” he heard Leo start to say, “But when you get right down to it, I’m happy to be Baby Blue. I mean, come on, it IS pretty much the coolest color out there anyway, soooo- ”

Raph nodded, chuckling slightly. “Yep, just like I’m happy to be Big Red for life. Tc’ch, and even if I wasn’t, I’d still probably end up wearin’ it most of the time.” 

“Oh yeah, same. Just, you know, with blue instead of red.”

“Heh, they definitely suit you guys better than they suit me!” Mikey chimed in, making his brothers laugh.

Yes, they all had their life colors, and in a way, they couldn’t be changed no matter what they wore. He would forever be his dad’s and his team’s Orange Ball of Sunshine - and he couldn’t have been happier about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my friends on Tumblr pointed out Mikey's 'life colors' line from the "Donnie's Gifts" episode. That line combined with the fact that Splinter only calls them by their colors is just really interesting to me, and I kinda hope they elaborate on that at some point


	9. Brotherly Inspiration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaaaaay, the longest chapter yet! Honestly this probably could've been it's own oneshot but, eh, it's technically four drabbles rolled into one so I'm gonna put it here. Enjoy!

Donnie didn’t give himself too many limitations. From the first time he fixed a broken radio with tinker toys and stray bits of scrap metal, his father and brothers had encouraged him, telling him that as long as he didn’t make bombs or anything else that could potentially destroy a metropolis like New York, he could invent whatever he wanted.

To say he ran with this freedom was an understatement. The fourteen year old genius allowed himself to invent whatever came to his mind, big or small. From extra arms and impossibly high tech bo staffs, to self-cleaning toothpicks and microwaves that could both cook and act as kitchen security (for those younger brothers who always seemed to be sneaking off with your hidden snacks).

But, it would seem that even limitless possibilities had some limits…

Donnie scowled at his paper, the seventh piece of paper he had used that afternoon. He had written down and sketched various ideas for weapons and armor and such, but it all just seemed… wrong. Too silly, too unnecessary, too specific and therefore too useless to use outside of specific circumstances, and even too futuristic to create for the time being, a problem he still ran into occasionally

Having finally had enough, Donnie ripped up the paper, crumpled it up and then threw it as hard as he could! ...Though, without any boosters attached to it, it only ended up going about halfway across his room. Still, at least it relieved a bit of his stress. The softshell then gave a sigh, slumping down in his chair. “Is this... _the day_ …? The day all my scientific breakthroughs come to an end? The day my brilliant inventions to be cease and the day I become a so-called ‘average’ mutant turtle teen, forsaken by the muses of science and tech…?”

He paused. “...Wow, that was dramatic, even for me. Man, forget this.”

Not one for mental breakdowns, Donnie forced himself to get out of his chair and walk out of his lab, despite the nagging parts of his brain reminding him of all the things he needed to do (even while not actually having anything to do). 'Maybe caffeine will drown it out,’ he thought to himself. Maybe it would give him the energy to do some personal training too, that seemed distracting enough for the moment.

However, once he stepped into the kitchen, Donnie was almost suffocated with a cloud of delicious smells. Unable to resist, he let out an “Mmmm~”, alerting his youngest brother to his presence.

“Oh! Hey, Dee!” Mikey waved happily, wearing the orange and green checkered, three-fingered oven mitts Raph had made him, “Just getting a headstart on supper!”

“Mm,” Donnie nodded, giving him a small smile before heading to the fridge. As tempting as it was, he knew that drinking coffee all day wasn’t healthy, so he settled for sugary artificially-grape flavored pop. “What are you cooking?” he asked after taking a couple sips from the bottle.

“Decided to go Asian tonight,” Mikey replied, “Got some shrimp, got some noodles goin’-” He thought for a moment before grinning. “Hey, wanna help me with the fried rice? If you do, I’ll let you have a butter cookie when they come out of the oven!”

Donnie chuckled. “Well, I already had nothing else going on, but that cookie just sealed the deal. What do you need me to do, chef?”

Mikey handed him a skillet. “Start heading this up. I’ve already got the other ingredients prepped pretty much, you’ve just gotta grab the rice and the sauces and start mixin’ them all together.”

“Alright, sounds simple enough,” Donnie nodded. He put the skillet on the stove top and turned on the flame, then went to grab the rice and the other sauces he needed. When he returned, he saw bowls of veggies and pre-beaten eggs that had been placed on the counter by Mikey, ready to use.

One by one, Donnie added the ingredients, frying them properly before moving onto the next one. Each move was careful and calculated, both because he didn’t want to constantly bug Mikey while he was trying to work on his own dishes and because he didn’t want to burn anything. He only spoke up when it was time to add in the soy sauce. “How much of this do you want me to add?”

“Whatever seems right to you!” Mikey replied before tossing a tasting spoon at him. A bit unorthodox, yet totally expected for the orange turtle.

So, Donnie did as he was told and started out with a couple teaspoons. He tasted it, and added a bit more before tasting it again. He also made sure to stir, making sure the flavor soaked in. “Hmmm,” he hummed inquisitively. He couldn’t exactly call himself a chef, but he did think there was something missing. Stepping away from the stove for just a moment, he quickly grabbed some salt as well as a couple of low-key yet still flavorful spices that Mikey usually swore by.

A dash of this, a dash of that. He watched the dish to make sure it didn’t brown too much, supervising both the heat and the sauces within the pan to make sure it didn’t start bubbling. He smelled the flavors, heard the sizzle of the veggies and the rice and the eggs, making mental notes before adding just a touch of this or a smidgen of that.

“Heh, it’s almost like chemistry,” he smirked. Then, his eyes widened. _Chemistry_ …

His main focus (and main love) might have been machines and technology, but that certainly didn’t mean he wasn’t interested in other fields of science! If he didn’t have any good invention ideas at the moment, there was nothing wrong with him working with some chemicals or doing some biology research, or even just running a couple science experiments for fun! And, once he was on this thought train, it just didn’t seem to stop. There were just so many MORE possibilities! Medicines and instantly-healing ointments made specifically for their biology, various types of ninja smoke bombs and paralyzers, strength or speed enhancers, maybe even something to counteract Draxum’s mutating ooze!

“Hey bro, how’s that rice coming along?” Mikey spoke up, since he had already finished the noodles and was just about done with his shrimp skewers.

“Uh huh, good, great,” Donnie mumbled, pouring the rice onto a clean plate. Curious, Mikey glanced over at him, but instead of finding a bored or possibly depressed expression, he saw a focused face with eyes full of life and energy.

Smiling in pride, Mikey let him be, not even minding when Donnie spent most of supper typing on his tablet in-between bites instead of talking with his family. Whatever the softshell was planning, it was definitely gonna be amazing! ‘Glad my food could help you out,’ he thought, ‘Heh, who would’ve thought that rice was science-y?’

\---------------

Mikey groaned, spinning his chair once more. He then spun it again, kicking his legs slightly and stretching his arms out before returning to his desk. He had all his paints - both the watercolors and the cans of spray paint - and some pencils. He had his paper as well as a couple blank walls not too far away that he had been eyeing for a couple weeks now. He even had several ideas for art pieces and new tags at the ready. And yet… And yet…!

He just. COULDN’T. _DRAW!_

Groaning again, this time adding a bit of a frustrated whimper to the end of it, Mikey put his head on his desk, wrapping his arms around it. “Whyyyyyyyyy…”

“...Soooooo… Everything good in here?”

Lifting his head up slightly, he saw Leo looking down at him. His big bro was smiling, as he usually was, yet Mikey could still see hints of concern. Not wanting to worry him too much, Mikey sat himself back up. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good… I just- I feel like I’m hittin’ a wall or somethin’.”

“Uh, I know you’re the artist here but I’m pretty sure it’s your paints that are supposed to go on the wall.”

The box-turtle pouted. “You know what I mean, Leon!”

“Heh, yeah, I know. Sorry…” Patting his brother on the back, he gave him another smile, this one a bit more encouraging. “You know, it’s sunset right now. And if we start heading that way, we can make it to the park just as it’s getting pretty dark. Play some basketball, maybe do some parkour or race or something on the way back?”

“...” Thinking about it, Mikey smirked a little. “Race? What, so you can kick my shell again?”

“Hey, I can’t help it if I’m the fastest! Don’t hate the player, hate the game!”

“Heh, fine.” Standing up, the orange turtle put on a determined grin. “But in that case, then you can’t get mad when I kick YOUR shell at basketball! You got that, bro?”

“Oho, we’ll just see about that, _little_ bro!” Not wanting to waste anymore time, the two of them headed towards an exit tunnel and began their trek across the city. And yet, the more Mikey walked, the more he wanted to run. To jump and flip and leap and do whatever else he could to expel all this energy he suddenly had.

Good thing he was hanging out with a speedy red-eared slider.

For the rest of the night, they were moving in one way or another. Playing games and doing stunts off rooftops, racing each other as they shot playful taunts at one another, even doing a couple impromptu sparring matches. Laughing and running and practically _flying_ in some moments - or at least, that’s what it felt like.

It wasn’t until the first cracks of sunlight began shining through the city skylines did the two finally make their way back underground. “So hey,” Leo began as they strolled through the main sewer line, only about twenty minutes from their home, “I’m pretty sure Dad’ll still be asleep when we get back. You wanna chill on the couch? Grab some cereal and see if there’s any good reruns on tv?”

“Thanks but… no thanks,” Mikey answered. He was tired, but it was a satisfying sort of tired. A peaceful tired, the rare type that could allow one to settle in and stay awake for several hours more. “Well, the cereal sounds good, but I think I’m gonna take it to my room. ...I think I’m finally ready to start doing some art.” He then held up his fist. “Thanks, Leo.”

Leo nodded, bumping the fist. “Anytime, Mike.”

\--------------

“Come on… Portal-no-jitsu!” He swung his sword, but it refused to even glow, let alone open any mystic portals. Leo growled. “Portal-no-JITSU!” He swung it again, and was met with the same result. “OH COME ON!” Holding the odachi sword up towards him, he glared at his reflection within the blade. “You made one, like, a week ago so why can’t you do it now?!”

He swung the sword again. And again, and again. While concentrating, while swinging in different directions, while imagining he was in danger, but nothing worked. Unable to take it anymore, Leo finally just threw the cursed thing across the room, not even caring when it hit the wall. Nothing could break a mystic sword, at least it could do that much right. “Ugh, stupid…"

“Leo?”

Leo didn’t bother looking up. “Leave me alone, Raph.”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen,” Raph said bluntly. Stepping carefully into the bedroom so that he didn’t accidentally knock anything over, He placed a gentle hand on his brother’s shell, but it was quickly shaken off. “Ugh… Come on, Leon, what’s going on?”

“I can’t get my sword to work right, that’s what’s going on,” Leo snapped, “Now that you’re all caught up, get out.”

“We’ve all had trouble with our mystic weapons, Leo,” Raph gently reminded him, “I couldn’t get my smash-no-jitsu to work against Albearto, and remember last Thursday when Mikey’s dragged him through a-?”

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” Leo huffed, crossing his arms. Even as it laid several feet away from him, he still glared at his sword, unable to look away.

Raph sighed. While the red-eared slider liked to pretend it was because he was simply ‘brilliant but lazy’ when it came to fighting, Raph knew the real reason why Leo never really trained - or rather, never trained much on his own. Sparring with his brothers and helping get their moves down while practicing his own was fun, and fighting bad guys all while gaining fighting experience was a total thrill as long as their foes weren’t TOO deadly - he still wanted to live to see his sweet sixteenth birthday, after all.

But when Leo trained on his own, well… He tended to get a bit obsessed. With a sweet-looking kata that he just HAD to master, or with a certain flip-and-kick combo that he just HAD to get right, or with a mystic ability that he just couldn’t seem to get the hang of. Focus was both the key and the prison cell, and everything else was ignored, buried under mountains of self-doubt, anger and pride.

Thankfully, these were all things Raph was pretty familiar with, and he knew the perfect solution.

So, he punched Leo in the arm, not hard enough to cause any real damage, but enough to make the blue turtle stumble slightly.

“...Okay, first off: OW! Second: the shell are you doing?!” Leo yelled, finally looking at Raph.

“Picking a fight, what’s it look like? Now come on, how ‘bout you at least try to not make this an easy win for me.” Raph threw another punch.

This time, Leo was able to dodge it, though that didn’t make him any less angry. “Knock it off, Raph!”

“Make me!” Raph shouted back. Another punch-

With ease, Leo caught it, twisting his older brother’s arm out of the way before throwing a punch of his own, not giving the snapper a chance to block. Despite his now slightly-throbbing face, Raph smirked. It was SO on.

There weren’t any cheap shots, but Raph didn’t pull any of his punches either. While they’d both probably have at least a dozen bruises a piece by the end of it, it was still about as fair of a fight as they could get. And Raph stood his ground as he watched both his younger brother’s moves - how he would alternate from firm punches and kicks to quick jabs that were about as sharp as any sword - and his eyes. Always alert, always moving, always thinking one step ahead.

Raph held back a chuckle... Leo was always better at strategy, wasn’t he?

The fight went on for about fifteen minutes before Leo finally managed to get a good opening. Knocking Raph off-balance with a one-two punch, sweeping his legs, and then pinning him down with his knee. “...So,” he asked, slightly out of breath, “You good?”

“Yep,” Raph nodded, not even annoyed that he lost, “You?”

It took an extra second or two, but Leo was able to give the same answer. “Yep. I’m good.” Standing up, he offered Raph his hand, helping him up. “...Man, it’s too bad all this ‘magic mojo’ stuff can’t be as simple as fighting, huh?”

“Yeah… But I know you’ll get it eventually.” Raph put his hand on Leo’s shell, and this time Leo let it stay there. “Maybe you don’t make it work all the time, but you’re still makin’ progress, alright? You’ve got this.”

Leo looked up at his brother and smiled, silent appreciation in his eyes despite all the doubt that was there too. After a couple moments, he walked over to his sword and picked it back up. “...You’ve got another spar in you? Maybe between the two of us we can figure out what I’m missing. And if not-” he smirked, “It’ll still feel pretty great to kick your shell two times in one day. So-?”

Raph already had his tonfas out. “Let’s do this.”

\-----------

“196… 197… 198… 199… and 200! PHEW!” Practically tossing the dumbbell back on its rack, Raph sat up and stretched. His body, sweaty yet not completely exhausted, felt fairly satisfied with his workout. No chance of his muscles getting flabby, not today at least, and he _still_ felt like he could take on a dozen origami foot-soldiers before he started feeling sore.

Though, he wondered… Maybe the fact that he wasn’t totally wiped out was the reason why he himself didn’t feel totally satisfied. Scowling slightly, Raph made his way over to the heavy bag and started punching it.

For as long as he could remember, exercise was one of his favorite things to do. To Raph, it almost seemed like the perfect activity! It got out all of his extra energy, it helped ease his frustrations, it taught him control, and above all else, it kept him strong. Made him _feel_ strong - strong enough to fight any foe in his way. Strong enough to protect his family.  

But, as great as it was, there were time Raph had to admit… It got pretty stale, and pretty boring. Putting on music or imagining that he was getting geared up for a big fight (like the kind he had seen in boxing movies) sometimes helped, but even those solutions weren’t foolproof.

Raph threw one last punch before stopping, feeling just a bit of soreness in his fists, but otherwise nothing at all. It was no use, he was done with exercise for the day. “So now what do I do…?” he asked himself. The only other personally hobby he really had was crocheting and knitting, another thing his father had taught him to help with some of his anger and control issues as a child. It was something Raph enjoyed almost as much as working out, but when it was still the middle of summer in the Big Apple, the idea of starting a scarf or a sweater just seemed dumb.

So, Raph made his way out of their makeshift gym and tried to find something to do. As he walked through the lair, he spotted Mikey and Donnie’s bedrooms, both their doors closed. Mikey was probably working on some art or looking up some craft project to do, and Donnie always seemed to be tinkering with some new gadget… The snapper’s frown deepened a bit.

He didn’t think of himself as just a ‘meathead jock’ - at least, he hoped he wasn’t that - but he did sometimes wish he was as creative and constructive as his younger brothers…

Shaking these thoughts away, Raph continued on. He could faintly hear some noise coming from the tv room, noise that wasn’t an audience applauding or excited Japanese. “Hmm, maybe Leo’s watchin’ a movie or somethin’...” He quickened his pace and soon discovered that, sure enough, one of his brothers was watching something on tv. Though it wasn’t the one he was expecting.

“Donnie?”

Donnie glanced up. “Oh, hey Raph. You need something?”

“No. Well, somethin’ to do, I guess.” He looked at the screen, and saw a well-dressed gentleman running around in what looked like a huge alien spaceship. “What’s this?”

“The Universal Adventure of Professor When,” Donnie answered, “With all the stuff we’ve been doing I haven’t really had time to watch it, but the new season’s gonna be starting soon, so I figured I’d catch up before it did.”

“Oh.” Raph leaned on the couch, watching for a bit longer. “...So, if this guy’s a human, how’s he in space?”

“He’s not a human, he just looks that way. On the inside though, totally alien.”

“Ah, cool. And he’s like a hero of space or somethin’?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Donnie answered as he grabbed the remote, turning the volume up a bit, “Space, time, reality, alternate dimensions - whatever the flavor of the week is, I suppose.” Back on screen, the Professor pulled out some sort of pocket watch, opening it and producing a deafening screech that stopped his alien enemies right in their tracks.

“Whoa! Nice!” Raph grinned.

“Uh huh, yep,” Donnie said, a bit of annoyance slipping into his tone. The climax was coming up soon, and if his brother didn’t stop talking he was going completely ruin the mood and-

“You uh, mind if I watch?” Raph asked, fiddling with his hands a bit, “I promise to stop asking questions and stuff. I just really want to see where this goes.” Better than wandering around the lair, at least, and definitely more exciting.

Donnie’s expression softened a bit. The sci-fi shows he watched were always a bit more cerebral and technical than the Jupiter Jim movies, so he never really expected anyone but him to get into them. So the fact that one of his brothers _was_ genuinely interested, well… it was sort of nice. “...You don’t have to stop asking questions. Just, ah, wait until the commercials, maybe?” he told him, giving a bit of a sheepish smile.

Raph nodded. “Sure thing,” he said as he sat down next to the softshell.

“Alright. Here, let me start the episode over. The beginning’s a bit slow, but it really does set the atmosphere of the episode. Plus the show’s theme song is a total banger.”

Just as Donnie had promised, the beginning of the episode was a bit slow, as well as very confusing. Raph definitely had a LOT of questions by the time the first commercial break rolled around. Thankfully, with Donnie being the rabid fan that he was, he answered the questions with ease, along with giving enticing hints on what Raph had missed out previously on the show, as well as what was yet to come.

As the episode played on, rather than getting bored or frustrated, Raph just became more and more invested - because hey, just cause he didn’t know all the details and lore of the show didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy an epic speech or a cool solution to a problem. As for Donnie, he couldn’t help but laugh at his brother’s loud reactions.

“Man, if this is how you watch a filler episode, I’d love to see your reaction to something like last season’s finale with the Professor’s Sister-” “No spoilers!” “I know, I know! I wouldn’t dare give THAT ending away!”

By the time the credits were rolling, Raph was practically demanding they watch another, and Donnie was happy to oblige. Two episodes quickly turned to three, then four, and then- well, after a mid-season finale it was practically illegal to just stop there!

“There’s no way he’s gonna keep his word,” Raph insisted, “The guy’s got a plan!”

“I don’t know, even the Professor has to make desperate choices sometimes,” Donnie shrugs, “I mean, when you’ve got the fate of a whole city on the line, you’re gonna have to make sacrifices.”

“Unless he’s trying to make them think that they won,” Raph retorted, “Like, he can’t go rushing in, otherwise they’ll pull the trigger, so maybe he’s planning on breaking stuff from the inside?”

“Oooh, an inside job would definitely be a strategy he’d use…” Donnie thought for a moment. “Unless, this is all part of an even BIGGER plan! Like, maybe this is all according to history and he has to make sure things go exactly as planned, because THAT’S how they’re defeated, they just don’t realize it because, unlike the Professor, they don’t know the history of the universe!”

“What?! Don, that’s crazy! How can that be it?!”

“Remind me to show you episode 6, season 21 and you’ll see.”

“Episode 6 of what?”

Blinking, the two older brothers of their team glanced up. Standing behind the couch was Mikey, with Leo right behind him, both with curious looks on their faces.

“Oh. Hey guys,” Raph greeted, “When did you get here?”

“Just now,” Mikey answered, “Though you guys definitely look like you’ve been here a while.”

“Yeah, and with all the screaming you guys were doing, we just had to check it out,” Leo added, “You know, eventually.”

“Good to know you’ve got a great reaction time, Leon,” Donnie said flatly, “Anyway, we were just watching some Professor When and discussing some theories for what’s going to happen next.”

Leo’s eyes widened a bit. “Theories…”

“Yeah!” Raph grinned, “I can’t wait to see what happens next! Oh, and what happened before I guess since I just started watching it.”

“I’ve got all the episodes downloaded and ready to go when you are, pal,” Donnie smiled, “But we’re finishing this season first. No way am I stopping after that cliffhanger, I refuse.”

“Heh, me neither! I still say he’s gotta have a back-up plan. And like, imagine if he starts recruiting some of their guys onto HIS team, and- huh?” Leo had pressed a hand to both his and Donnie’s foreheads. “Leo, what are you-?”

“Discussing theories? Guessing what happens next and making your own ideas for it? Totally geeking out about fandom stuff?” Leo put on a grave expression, shaking his head while Mikey tried to hide his giggles. “Guys, I think this may be late stage rat flu!”

“Ugh, Leo,” Donnie grumbled, rolling his eyes, “We don’t have rat flu, you jerk, we’re just-!”

“Quarantine!” The blue turtle shouted, snickering and practically tackling his purple brother off the couch while Mikey did the same to Raph, trying his best to put the large turtle in a headlock. “Yeah!” the youngest of them shouted, laughing now, “Quarantine!”

“Ugh, Leo! Even if we did- erg, get OFF!” “Nope!” “Grr, if we really did have rat flu, you’d just be infecting yourselves, you know!”

“Hey, that sounds like a good idea to me,” Raph smirked. He looked over his shoulder at the box-turtle on his back.

“...Uh oh.” Mikey tried to scramble away, but his big bro was just too fast!

Raph grabbed him and pulled him down to the couch, where he proceeded to noogie him. “INFECTIONNNN!”

Mikey squealed, trying to squirm away. “Haha-gah! Raaaaph, get off!”

“Ahh, I see~,” Donnie nodded, smirking now as well. In one fluid motion, he managed to grab Leo’s arms, yanking him forward and slamming him onto the floor, causing him to let out a yelp that almost sounded like a squeak. Now THAT definitely made Donnie laugh. “HA! Quarantine yourselves!”

“Oh you are SO gonna get it, Dee!” Within seconds, a night of tv watching turned into a night of wrestling and goofing around, and judging by how much they were all laughing and enjoying themselves as they each tried to ‘quarantine’ each other, all four of them seemed to be just fine with that.

Still, as he held a protesting Leo under his arm, Raph thought to himself that maybe trying to write a fanfic or two while he wasn’t in a totally feverish state wasn’t such a bad idea...   
  


Maybe they all had totally different hobbies and interests, but it was nice to know that when ideas were rough or non-existent and concentration was lacking, they always had at least one brother nearby to give them some inspiration.


	10. Silence ISN'T Golden

“...Is that a freaking mecha suit?” Raph asked.

“Yep, it’s a freaking mecha suit,” Mikey nodded.

“Guys… It’s a _freaking_ **_mecha suit_ ** **!** ” Leo shouted with glee, almost unable to believe his eyes.

Donnie smiled, hopping down from the suit’s cockpit. “Yes, gentlemen. It is indeed… a freaking mecha suit.” They may have had mystic weapons and some decent combat training and experience, but Donnie still had a feeling that for one enemy one day, that just wouldn’t be enough, and Donnie ALWAYS liked to be prepared.

Hence, the purple painted, eight foot tall, state-of-the-art, high tech, weapons-infused, titanium mecha suit.

“Bro, this is AMAZING~!” Mikey said, clasping his hands together, “I mean, I just can’t believe you actually built this!”

“Yeah Donnie, next to the Turtle Tank, this thing is one of the _coolest_ things you’ve ever made!” Raph added.

Donnie chuckled, holding his hands up. “Thank you, thank you. But please, hold your applause until _after_ I show you guys all it’s features. So, the cockpit itself has a steel hull surrounded by bulletproof glass with-” He yawned, interrupting himself for just a moment or two. “Mm, with holographic screens that can basically pull up any info you want. As for the weapons, you’ve got your standard lasers, plenty of swords and other robot-style ninja weaponry, a net launcher, stun guns, a-”

The softshell yawned again, this one much bigger and longer than the last. He closed his eyes for just a moment before shaking himself awake. “A, uh, giant magnet, I pretty sure I haven’t mentioned that yet. And uh, oh, I-I made the mech’s feet out of high-grade-” Donnie stopped, noticing that his brothers were no longer had their eyes on him, and were instead giving each other a concerned look. “H-Hey, guys, I worked really hard on this thing. The least you could do is listen.”

“Oh, we’re listening,” Leo said as he crossed his arms, “But it sounds like you’re putting _yourself_ to sleep. Dude, when was the last time you got any rest?”

“About three- no, sorry, four- Wait, what day is it today? Wednesday, right? So, uh…” Donnie started to trail off, rubbing his eye as he mumbled to himself. “O-Okay, okay, five days, that’s my final answer. But it’s fine, it’s fine, I’ve already got some coffee going in-”

“Uh, actually, no, that is DEFINITELY not fine,” Raph said, “Come on, Donnie, you’re goin’ to bed. Now.”

The softshell gave him a sleepy scowl. “I told you, I’ve fine. And I’ve still got a lot of work left on this thing. I, I finished the main features but there’s still the anti-theft devices to install, testing to make sure it can function in an- _*yaaaawn*_ a-any environment and-”

“And you can do all of that later,” Raph told him, being insistent now as he put his hands on his brother’s shoulders. Donnie definitely knew what that meant - if he didn’t start walking soon, Raph was just going to carry him to his bed. ...Though, at that moment, that didn’t sound too bad (and his aching legs and feet definitely agreed).

“Just get some sleep before you pass out on us and hit your big head on something, okay?” Leo asked. Mikey stood next to him, flashing pleading puppy-dog eyes at his purple brother. The ultimate weapon.

“Ugh, fiiiiiine,” Donnie sighed, “I guess I could use a bit of a power nap or something…” His brothers ended up escorting him to his room, not wanting him to sneak off or stop by the kitchen for more caffeine. Donnie even allowed Raph to tuck him in, figuring it was easier than trying to argue.

Once Raph stepped outside and closed the door, he heard Leo’s harsh whispers. “So, did we _seriously_ hear him say that he only needs a ‘power nap’?” he asked, shaking his head in exasperation, “He’s nuts if he thinks that’s all he needs!”

“You know how Donnie is,” Mikey countered, not looking quiet as annoyed but still concerned for his big brother, “The guy just refuses to sleep sometimes.”

“Well, there’s no way we’re gonna let him only get a couple hours of sleep tonight!” Raph said, putting on his ‘leader face’, “And nothin’s gonna wake him up until he’s actually ready to wake up. I’m talking full Silent Night mode, got it?”

The two shorter turtles nodded, and after a quick mission breakdown, they were off. With light steps, Mikey and Leo went to their rooms, with Leo grabbing his headphones along with his blue 3DS and Mikey grabbing a sketchbook and his watercolors (the most quiet art medium there was).

As for Raph, he headed for the tv room. Splinter was already asleep in his chair, but the tv was still on. Cautiously, Raph reached for the remote, which was resting on his father’s belly. No sign of movement yet… Like trying to pull a rare jewel out of a vicious viper’s nest, Raph picked the device up as slowly and carefully as possible. Once that was done, there was one thing left to do…

Holding his breath, Raph turned off the tv.

The room was now completely silent, save for the rat-man’s soft snores. He stirred a bit at the sudden lack of noise, but luckily (after what seemed like an eternity) fell back into his deep, cake-and-milk induced sleep. Raph gave a quiet sigh, and placed the remote on a pillow before heading to his own bedroom. There, he grabbed as many comic books as he could carry before making his way to the designated meeting spot - a small sitting room that their father sometimes liked to meditate in.

Naturally, both his younger brothers were already there and sitting on the floor, ready to keep themselves busy for several silent hours. As soon as they saw Raph, they each held up their phones, indicating that they had been switched to silent.

Raph nodded back at them, promising that he had done the same to his cell phone, before sitting down as well. He smiled to himself as he listened, hearing no stray sounds. Nothing to wake Donnie up - not even the pipes seemed to be leaking. No creaking, no echoing, no voices - completely silent.

‘Hmph. Mission successful,’ the snapper thought to himself before opening one of his comics. And indeed, it was.

...For about fifteen minutes before being completely and utterly ruined - though, not by anyone Raph had been expecting. First came the echoing of footsteps, then the sound of footsteps themselves, then heavy breathing, and then-

“GUYS!”

All three of them flinched before looking up and seeing the very turtle that they had done all of this for. Donnie looked at them with wide eyes, missing his mask and even his battle shell, yet he had his tech-bo staff gripped tightly in his hands. Though, after a moment, he began to go from nearly scared out of his shell, to totally confused at the sight of his brothers just chilling on the floor.

“Whoa, Dee! Are you alright?” Mikey asked.  

“Yeah, bro, did you have a nightmare or somethin’?” Raph added.

“I- I don’t…” It was then that confusion began to shift towards anger. “You jerks! You think this is funny or something?!”

Raph raised an eyebrow. “Wait, what? Don, what are you-?”

“Hey, calm down. And why are you even yelling at us?” Leo snapped, “We were just trying to help!”

“Help how?!” Donnie demanded, pointing his staff at his blue brother, who was on his feet at this point.

“By doing all this!” Leo shouted back, his arms gesturing to the once-quiet room, “We were trying to stay quiet and make sure nothing woke you up so you could get a decent sleep for once, you caffeine-junkie!”

“You-! Wait… What?” Donnie blinked, lowering his weapon. “You… You guys were… Were just trying not to wake me up?”

“Well, yeah!” Mikey said, tilting his head in confusion, “Why else would we make sure this place was as quiet as possible? You’re exhausted, Dee, and we just wanted to make sure nothin’ woke you up!”

“...Oh.” That was all Donnie could seem to say. “Oh… I, I-I guess, um…” He made what sounded like a mix between a laugh and a sob. “Of course, duh… I just, uh…” He sighed, unable to look away from the floor now. “I woke up by myself, trying to find a comfier position or something, I guess,” he explained quietly, “But, but when I woke up and didn’t hear anything - or anyone - I… I thought something had gone wrong or, o-or that I’d overslept or, gosh, I don’t know…” He gave another small laugh. “Pretty stupid, huh…?”

The three turtles in front of him could only stare. If this was any other night - if the bags under Donnie’s eyes weren’t so deep, if his vulnerable body wasn’t shivering - maybe they would have just simply made fun of the purple turtle for being unable to relax, even while sleeping. But in that moment, all they could do - all they wanted to do - was pull him into a comforting group hug.

Donnie sighed again, allowing his brothers to just hold him. He mumbled an apology that was quickly brushed off, and by the time the hug ended, a new figure had entered the room. Splinter was watching them, his eyes sleepy yet not squinted in annoyance or fatigue. “I can make you some tea to help you get back to sleep,” he offered.

A small smile tugging at his lips, Donnie nodded. “That’d be great. Thanks, Dad.”  He watched Leo play his game as he waited, his other two brothers staying closely by his side. By the time he had finished his cup of tea, Donnie felt like he was ready to pass back out. Once again, his brothers escorted him to his room, giving him one last goodnight hug before saying goodnight.

As he walked into his room and towards his futon, Donnie turned on a couple of his smaller machines. Not to use obviously, but figuring that the hums and whirls of them would provide some decent white noise.

As he got back into bed, Donnie began to hear the sounds of his home coming back to life. Splinter had turned his tv back on, not wanting to miss the late night shows. Leo had taken out his headphones, giving the occasional cheer whenever he beat a virtual baddie. Mikey was telling Raph about an idea he had for a series of mutant creature paintings, and Raph in turn was sharing what was happening in his comic. Even the various creaks and groans of the NYC pipelines seemed to return.

Slowly, Donnie's body finally began to relax as his vision started to blur. His family was safe. His city was safe. There was nothing for him to fix, no one for him to fight. In that moment, everything was just fine.

And for the first time in a week, the softshell closed his eyes and fell into a deep, dreamless, restful sleep.


	11. Nothing to Joke About

“-Okay but did you see me take that one guy out?”

“Yeah, though compared to MY take down-”

“Oh! Did you see that guy’s face when I transformed my staff into a double-headed spear? Classic!”

“Ooh! Ooh! What about when I whipped my kusari-fundo and took a whole bunch of ‘em out?! It was like-  _ whoosh! _ See ya!”

One by one, the team entered their lair, laughing and grinning about their latest victory. “Yyyep,” Leo grinned, putting his hands on his hips, “I’d say we are pretty awesome ninjas~”

“Hmph, there’s no ‘pretty’ about it,” Raph lightly argued, “We ARE awesome! And we’re gonna keep bein-!” He stopped, the growl in his stomach - loud enough to be heard by all of his brothers - interrupting him.

“Well, we can continue being awesome,” Donnie smirked, “But it looks like that won’t be until AFTER breakfast.”

“Oh, I can cook us up something!” Mikey offered.

His brothers grinned. The only thing better than breakfast, after all, was a home cooked Mikey-style breakfast! “Thanks, little bro!” Raph told him.

“Hey, you know, I’d say we all deserve something special after being so, you know, awesome,” Leo started to say, “Sooooo, how about we try making breakfast pizza?”

“Ooooh!” One of Donnie’s robotic spider arms brought out his tablet. “Pizza made with eggs, bacon AND several types of cheese?” he said, reading off his screen, “Sounds good to me!” His brothers cheered in agreement.

...Well, all except one. 

“Actually, guys,” Mikey began, “There’s been something I’ve wanted to talk to you guys about for a while now.”

“Hm?” Raph blinked. “What is it, Mike?”

“Well, the thing is…” Mikey took a deep breath, and then dropped the bomb. “I think I’m tired of pizza.”

“...” “...” “...” His brothers stared at him, eyes as wide as dinner plates. Donnie was so shocked he nearly dropped his tablet. “H-Huh…?” Raph finally managed to get out.

“Yeahhhh,” Mikey said, rubbing the back of his neck, “I don’t know, it just doesn’t taste as good anymore. It’s kinda gross now, actually. And I mean, it wasn’t all that great to begin with, now that I think about it.”

“...Okay who are you and what have you done with the real Michealangelo?” Leo asked, narrowing his eyes at his so-called little brother.

“Micheal… Micheal I think you need to sit down,” Donnie added, still very much shell-shocked, “I mean… Are you serious about this?!”

Mikey paused, looking each turtle in the eye… and then grinned. “April Fools~!”

Everyone groaned. “Aw man, Mike,” Raph said, shaking his head, “You really got us there!”

“Heh, yeah,” Donnie chuckled, “I can’t believe you managed to say all that with a straight face! Not bad, Mikey. Not bad at all.”

Leo however, while proud of Mikey’s perfect prank, couldn’t help but be a bit miffed. “Man… With how busy we’ve been lately, I completely forgot about April Fools Day!” Though, it was easy to lose track of days when you spend your nights crime-fighting and having fun. “I didn’t even get to plan anything this year!”

“Well, guess that means I don’t have to worry about any hidden paint balloons or whipped cream cans in my lab,” Donnie smirked.

Leo shot him a small glare. “Don’t act so happy about it.”

As the team of four made their way through the lair and into the kitchen, they spotted Splinter over by the counter, preparing his own breakfast. Spying this opportunity, Leo grinned.  _ “Pssst! Guys! _ ” he whispered, getting his brothers’ attention. Once he had it, he gestured to Mikey, and then to Splinter. “Eh? Eh?”

Understanding the plan, all of them grinned and snickered before putting on their ‘serious’ faces. “Oh, good morning, Father,” Leo spoke up.

“Yes yes,” Splinter waved over his shoulder, “Good morning to all of you.”

“Say, Dad,” Donnie began, “We just thought we should let you know… You don’t have to worry about empty pizza boxes and things like that anymore because, well, I think we’re done with pizza.”

There was a pause. “...Really?” Splinter asked, glancing over his shoulder at his sons.

“Oh yeah, we’re sure,” Raph nodded.

“Tooootally sure,” Mikey added, “Completely done with pizza for-EVER!”

“Ah, good,” Splinter nodded, “Because that makes my announcement much easier!”

“Yea- wait, your announcement?” Leo asked, his playful smile falling, “What announcement?”

“Well, with how much ninja work you four have been doing, I have been thinking… If you’re going to be ninjas, then you should eat like proper ninjas! I was thinking this change would be a harsh one, but since you have all lost interest in pizza, then you should love this!”

Swiftly, Splinter turned around and held up a whole, raw squid. His boys gasped, turning pale at the sight. “Starting today, we will be eating raw squid three times a day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner! See, the squid provides the protein, and eating it raw will strengthen your jaw muscles and your spirit. This decision is final, and I am so happy that you all agree to it!”

“...Raw… Squid?” Raph weakly repeated, shuddering.

“Raw, squishy, gooey, cold-” Donnie brought his hands up to his mouth, gagging slightly.

_ “We can’t even cook it…” _ Mikey whispered in horror.

“W-Wait. Wait, Dad! Master Splinter, please!” Leo started to shout, “Please, we canNOT eat raw squid three times a day! We just- We weren’t even being serious about the pizza thing! We just wanted to-”

Suddenly, Splinter bursted into loud laughter. “APRIL FOOLS!” he shouted, holding the squid up again. He squeezed it, revealing that it was nothing more than a high-grade, plastic squeak toy. The turtles all groaned at their mischievous rat-dad, practically dropping to their knees.

“...You know, I think I’m too relieved to even be annoyed,” Donnie said, smiling a bit.

“Heh, you definitely got us good, Pops,” Raph told him while Mikey just giggled, shaking his head at the bad yet very believable joke. (And thank gosh it was only a joke!)

“Oh yeah! You all should’ve seen the look on your faces!” Splinter grinned before laughing again.

As for Leo, he just pouted. “Ugh, man! Even Splinter’s got plans for April Fools?! I’m totally losing my touch!” Though, maybe if he worked fast he could come up with something. He did still have a can of silly string somewhere in his room…

“Hey!” Splinter suddenly snapped, getting the blue turtle’s attention. “Lesson of the morning,” he said, using the rubber squid as a pointer, “NEVER try to fool the master~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An April Fools related drabble in November, because why not? Time is an illusion, ya'll


	12. Spice is Nice

“-I don’t know, Donnie. I mean, I’m not saying it’s a great idea but, the foodies gravitate towards some really weird trends.”

“April, he literally thinks making a building made out of cheese and having people eat their way out of it is a good idea. That’s not weird, that’s IMPOSSIBLE.”

“And speaking of food-” Mikey stuck his head into the room, his chef’s hat tilted slightly as it sat on his head, “It’s gonna be served soon, so come get it while it’s hot!”

“No argument there,” April grinned back at him. Putting her pencil down, she quickly stood up, with Donnie soon doing the same. “It’s why I came over here, after all.” Having a hot meal to look forward to rather than heated up leftovers definitely made slogging her way through her calculus homework a bit more bearable.

“Huh, and here I was thinking you simply wanted to enjoy our company,” Donnie dryly commented, “I should have known there was some sort of ulterior motive.”

April elbowed him slightly, rolling her eyes. “When Mike’s the one cooking, there is.” “Fair enough.” “Aww, thanks guys!”

Making their way to the living room, the three spotted Raph and Leo already sitting on the floor at their small dinner table, playing on their phones with their chopsticks at the ready next to them. As he sat down across from his red and blue brothers, Donnie spotted several small jars in the center of the table, as well as a small bow of chopped up peppers. He gave Raph a look, and Raph just smiled, nodding ever so slightly.

Rolling in on his skateboard, his arms perfectly balanced, Mikey gracefully set down all five plates at once. “Ta-daaaa! Enjoy, everyone!”

April gasped slightly at the prepared dish. “Oooh, chicken curry! I haven’t had this in-” She paused, the slight clanging of tiny glass jars interrupting her. Unsure whether she should be amused or concerned, April watched as both Donnie and Raph proceeded to pour spice after spice into their food.

Noticing her expression, Leo leaned in. “Don’t worry, they do this every time Mike makes curry,” he told her.

“Ah.” Well, at least it was normal. (Or rather, as normal as mutant turtle teens could be.) “But, shouldn’t you guys at least taste it before addin’ stuff in?” she asked them.

“Nah, we already know it’s not spicy enough for us,” Raph answered, “No offense, Mikey.” “None taken!”

“Besides,” Donnie started to say, looking a bit manic as he dumped nearly a third of a jar of cayenne pepper onto his plate. (“All he needs is some thunder and lightning and an evil mad scientist laugh,” Leo mumbled under his breath.) “If I couldn’t distribute the spice myself, half the thrill would be lost for me - as well as half the research.”

“...” April blinked. “Okay, I’m confused again.”

“They’re crazy about spice,” Leo explained, “Like… really cuckoo-bananas crazy.”

“Ugh, we’re not ‘crazy’, Leo,” Donnie argued, giving the blue turtle a small glare, “I just like to experiment with my food sometimes! It’s one thing to experiment with flavors, but to experiment with heat to food ratio, figuring out which combination of spices produces what reaction when consumed, testing the boundaries of how far taste buds can be pushed as well as the limits of the spices themselves AND having a delicious bite of food to boot?!” The young scientist practically squealed with delight. “Ugh, it’s just oodles of fun!”

April snorted. “Oodles?”

“I stand by my point.”

“And me, I just love the feeling of spice,” Raph added, “I mean, that one-two punch of flavor and heat? MM!” He punched the air. “It kicks ya right in the mouth, but it’s so good that you just HAVE to come back for more! How can you beat that?!”

“How about not burning your tongue off?” Leo suggested, “That sounds pretty nice.” With that, he took a bite of his fairly-spicy-but-not-yet-painful chicken curry. “Mm, see? Nice!”

“I don’t know, Leo,” Mikey started to say as he stirred his own curry, “I kinda get it. Maybe I’m not a spice guy like they are, but the right spice can add a lot, even if you only put in a little! And sometimes that bit of extra heat is just what a dish needs!”

“I’m not saying food can’t be hot or spicy or whatever,” Leo countered, “I’m just saying I don’t get why they have to try and completely destroy their tongues every time we have a curry or chili night.”

Raph rolled his eyes. Leo could be just as goofy and carefree as the rest of them, but he also had a bit of a cautious side to him - sometimes even more than the ‘always have a back-up tracker’ planner Donnie. “Easy answer: ‘Cause it’s AMAZING,” he stated, deciding that was enough of an argument to make his own point valid.

April chuckled. “Hey, have you guys tried those spicy chocolates? The kind where they mix in chopped up chili peppers and chili powder?” Leo visibly cringed while his older brothers both looked intrigued.

“Ooh! I love flavor combos like that!” Mikey replied, “Just a few months ago I tried to make a cinnamon and spice cake. Heh, I kiiiinda ended up burning it since I got caught up in watching Leo and Donnie play some game, but I bet it would’ve been really good!”

Donnie nodded. “It doesn’t take a genius to realize how well contrasting flavors work with each other. Honestly it’s more surprising that there aren’t more spicy-sweet dishes out there. Same with salty-sweet and savory-sweet.”

At that last one, Mikey gave a bit of a trickster smirk. “...You mean, like Hawaiian pineapple and ham pi-?”

“Micheal, do NOT. EVEN. GO THERE,” Leo snapped, making everyone else at the table laugh.

Deciding that he had finally added enough spice. Raph took his first bite of the night - and practically leapt up onto the ceiling when he felt the hot dish touch his tongue. “WHOO! Now THAT is what I am talking about! POW!”

“Mmm, oh! Oh YES!” Donnie agreed, taking his first bite as well, “Aw, I can barely feel my mouth I LOVE THIS!” He wrote down a couple notes on his tablet. “Intensity of 110, instant reaction when presented to taste buds- Mmm, and not a bad aftertaste either!”

“Tc’ch, okay, I think I’m starting to agree with Leo on this one,” April said after swallowing her own bite, “You guys _are_ nuts when it comes to spice.”

“THANK you!” Leo shouted, throwing his hand up a bit, “Finally someone agrees with me!”

“Yeah well, you’re still not gonna convince us to give up the spice life!” Raph told him, happily taking another bite. “ _Whoooo_ , it’s like gettin’ hit with a flamethrower or somethin’ but in my mouth!” April laughed at that, and was even inspired to try an extra bit of spice herself, reaching for one of the jars of cardamom.

“Suit yourselves,” Leo shrugged, “Hey, maybe if you guys eat enough spice, you can make yourselves spicy enough to avoid being eaten by Meatsweats if he ever captures you. That’s a valid strategy.”

“I dunno, Leon,” Mikey replied in-between bites, “Mm, he was all about spice and flavors on his show, so he probably wouldn’t even mind! He probably even uses uber-powerful mutant spices now!”

“Though, if tasted you and you were spicy enough that he had to go get a glass of milk or somethin’, that would maybe give you a chance to escape, at least,” April added.

“Ooh, that’s not a bad move, actually!” Leo nodded, “I mean, it’s worth a shot, right?”

“Uh, guys?” Donnie spoke up, looking a bit ill now, “As someone who was nearly eaten by Meatsweats, do you think we can change the subject?” He shuddered. _“I can still feel all the butter he poured on me…”_

Leo winced. “Right, our bad, bro. Change of subject, starting now.”

“Thank you.” Wanting to distract himself, Donnie decided to be even more daring and picked up a couple chunks of pepper, placing them on his piece of curry-covered chicken before popping it in his mouth. His eyes practically turned into twin waterfalls, tearing up almost instantly as he breathed out steam. “Oh son of a Bunsen burner I can’t even feel my face after that one that was **HOT!** _WOO! YES! MM!_ ”

“Whoa, hey, give me some of those!” Raph shouted, giving an excited toothy grin as he reached for the peppers. Seconds later, the snapper was crying and yelling as he chewed, completely satisfied.

Mikey and April just laughed at their reactions while Leo simply shook his head, wondering aloud “What is _wrong_ with you guys?”

Maybe it was just a weird older brother thing.


	13. Guitar Turtle

It was quiet… No sounds coming from the tv, and no lights or shadows dancing on the walls of the living room. Still, Leo was cautious. So, he poked his head into the room, looking around. “Helloooo? Daaaad?” he called out.

No sign of Splinter. His brothers were busy too. Realizing this, the red-eared slider grinned and ran into the living room. Right under his father’s ‘Do Not Touch’ cabinet was another cabinet, one filled with spare controllers and batteries, a couple extra remotes, some wiring and some duct tape, and - the most important of all, in Leo’s opinion - a black, plastic guitar. “Long time no see,” he said to the toy, smiling fondly at it.

While Leo could agree with his brothers that Guitar Hero, while once cool when they were eight, wasn’t exactly the best game ever, the blue turtle still had a deep fondness for it. He could still remembered the countless nights of him playing it, having fun even as he bombed nearly every song. Still, with enough practice he was able to get around 60% on about half of the game’s playlist, so that was something!

He only became better once Donnie surprised him with a custom three-fingered controller along with the modded game - an act that earned his purple brother one HUGE hug as well as Leo’s desserts for a whole week. Suddenly the virtual boos were turning into excited cheers, and unlocking the rest of the songs became a breeze! And now, years later, well…

Plugging in the game and turning their system on, Leo smirked to himself. “Better do a warm-up first,” he told himself, selecting his profile ‘NEONLEON’ before picking the medium level of difficulty. Just like those rare times when he did join his brothers in training or practiced on his own, he knew he just couldn’t jump right into the most difficult stuff, no matter how familiar he was with them.

So, he started slow. A little Pat Benatar, some Kiss and and some Scorpion, naturally. With each one, Leo got a better score than the last, his fingers loosening up as he became more and more invested in his virtual audience’s reactions. Finally, it was time for the big showstopper… Backing up to the previous menu, he selected expert level before scrolling down the song list.

“And now, ladies and gentlemen,” Leo began to say, deepening his voice a bit, “It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Presenting Neon Leon, and his killer rendition of ‘Welcome to the Jungle’!” Okay so maybe it wasn’t ‘Through the Fire and Flames’ on expert but hey, Leo didn’t exactly want to break his hand either. This would be enough of a thrill for him.

Soon, the song loaded in. The pixelated faces of his fans watched as Leo gripped his controller, fingers at the ready…

The song started out slow, just a couple notes at a time. Though the speed was quickly ramped up, and before it was even thirty seconds in Leo’s hand was already flying across the buttons. But the blue turtle wasn’t intimidated. He kept his cool, kept his eyes on the screen… Being a ninja meant having keen eyesight, not letting a single detail (or button prompt) go unnoticed. Thankfully, when Leo was truly in the zone, he definitely had that in spades.

He grinned as he hit his first Fifty Note Streak. A minor victory, but a victory nonetheless. The song began slowing down again, using lots of held long notes that were all leading up to the _true_ beginning of the song. And, as soon as THAT hit, Leo began stomping his foot to the beat of the song, his fingers still refusing to falter. “Oh yeah!” Whether it was ‘real’ or not didn’t matter in that moment, it was still a thrill to him.

He hit his Hundred Note Streak just as the singer was coming in, then Two Hundred shortly after. _“Welcome to the jungle, we’ve got fun and games!_ _We got everything you want honey, we know the names! We are the people that can find whatever you may need, if you got the money, honey we got your disease! In the jungle, welcome to the jungle-!”_

Using his Star Power kept his audience not only cheering, but wanting more! Though the song itself was beginning to get a bit repetitive, falling into a familiar pattern. It would’ve been easy to get completely caught up in the fun and lose focus, but Leo knew better. After all, the first guitar solo was coming up…

Activating his Star Power once more just as it came in, Leo did let himself dance a bit as he hit the notes, still wanting to look awesome even if he was just pressing buttons on a plastic toy. That may have been the reality, but in his mind, he was putting on a TRUE showstopper. He hadn’t missed a note yet - a Five Hundred Note streak - but he was only about halfway through the song. It wasn’t over yet.

Going back into them, the lyrical parts of the song were still fairly predictable and repetitive, though the occasional long note kept him on his toes. With all the moving he was doing, he was starting to get tired. But hey, wasn’t that part of the thrill too?  

His second guitar solo re-energized him a bit as he began banging his head to the beat, using the whammy bar on his controller as much as he could. The pixelated concert-goers clapped and cheered, amazed by their mutant rock star. And Leo… Leo could only grin.

The notes were coming rapid fire now. His fingers almost couldn’t keep up! ...Almost. Gritting his teeth slightly now, he put all of his concentration into watching and playing. Almost there, almost there-!

 _“It’s gonna bring you_ **_down!_ ** _HUH!”_

Hitting his final few notes, Leo felt to his knees, holding the buttons in place before letting go just at the right time, and using his now free hand to hold up the ‘Rock on!’ hand symbol. On screen were big bold letters that read “YOU ROCK!” A moment later, the game displayed his stats: 100% of notes hit, 937 note streak.

“And that was, NEON LEON!” Leo shouted, going back into his announcer voice before making the ‘screaming audience’ noise with his breath. “Ahhhhh~! Ahhh-”

“Ahem.”

The blue turtle froze. Face heating up now, he turned to face the short, furry figure standing in the doorway. “...Heyyyyy,” Leo said finally, giving a forced smile. It was one thing to have his brothers walk in on him in his ‘rock star’ persona, he could’ve easily laughed it off and counter their jokes by mentioning all the embarrassing things he’s seen them doing. But his dad? That was much harder… “So, uh-”

“My shows are starting soon,” Splinter stated simply.

“Right, right,” Leo nodded, moving to turn off the system. “I, I was just about done anyway. I mean, pfft, heh, this game is just SO lame now but, you know, it’s still kinda fun to play sometimes, you know, for the… for the lols and stuff. Heh, but uh, I’ll just… let you watch your show now.” Still blushing a bit, he unplugged his controller and switched the tv from ‘GAME 1’ to ‘CABLE’, making sure to keep his head low as he did this.

But, as he was putting the plastic guitar back into the cabinet, he heard his father speak up once more. “...You know, I always thought we’d have a musician of some sort in this family at some point,” he mused as he took a seat in his chair, “Heh, I suppose a ‘rock star’ is even better then, isn’t it?”

Leo didn’t say anything to that, only giving his dad a quick “Good night” and Splinter didn’t say anything else. But even so, Leo still found himself leaving the room with a big smile on his face.

Maybe it wasn’t a huge victory against a villainous mutant or winning a spar against his big brother or even playing a real rock concert, but that was fine. Because in that moment, Leo STILL felt like a total rock star, and that feeling wasn’t going to go away anytime soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Looks at how he wanted to be a champion in 'Minotaur Maze', how he reacted to being the wrestling champ in 'Shell in a Cell' and how he wanted to show off his skateboarding in 'The Longest Fight'* Yeahhhh, this boy's totally got a rock star persona somewhere in there, lol. He may not be the leader in this show, but I could totally see him wanting to be a star of some sort, no matter how impossible that dream may be at the end of the day, since he's still a ninja (and a mutant turtle at that)


	14. Bear-y Best Friend

The security guard hummed to himself as he finished the rest of the his route. He shined his flashlight from one side of the food court to the other, not spying anything unusual (and not noticing the five small pairs of eyes watching him from above). With a sigh, he checked his watch. “Hmph, about time,” he grumbled, pocketing his flashlight, “‘S not like anything happens in this store anyway...” So what if there were sometimes a couple trash bags opened or a security camera or two lost footage for a couple hours? Nothing was ever stolen, so what was the big deal?

As soon as the guard left, a small voice from the vent system began to whisper. “ _ Pssst _ , Papa, can we go down there now?”

“Not yet, little one,” another, much older voice replied, “Remember, ninjas must be patient.” “Yes, Papa.” 

They waited exactly five minutes more before finally making their move. The rat-man was the first to climb down from the vent, making sure the coast was truly clear before motioning for his children to hop down. One by one, each of the turtles - dressed in their darkened colored ponchos with large hoods on them to help with camouflage - was caught by the rat. Once everyone was safely on the ground, Splinter reminded them of the rules. “Remember: No leaving this floor, and make sure to check each department and store before going into it for guards or security cameras. Got it?”

“Yes Papa!” His children chimed before running off, giggling and eager to get exploring. They always loved it when their papa took them somewhere at night, whether it was to a park or a zoo or a museum. But above them all, Gilbert’s Department Store was one of their favorites to run around in! Everything was just so new and bright and shiny and fun!

Of course, Splinter saw this as much more than just a simple field trip. He knew how curious children could be, and as such he knew he could not keep them in their hidden lair forever. Not with how fast Blue was, or how Red was strong enough to break down any door, or how Purple was too clever for any lock, or how Orange always seemed to find new secret passages. So, he planned these ‘night trips’ in order to teach them how to move around the surface whenever they did want to visit it. How to hide in the shadows and avoid security cameras, all while still having a good time.

Besides, Gilbert’s vast food court had plenty of non-rotten food to scavenge through or sneak from the many kitchens. They could practically have a feast there! And, Splinter could admit, he had been interested in trying out one of those massage chairs in the furniture department…

Several feet away, Raphael was happily walking around, looking at all the smaller store fronts within the vast department store. His younger brothers had all opted to look around the electronics department, with Donnie wanting to check out the new computer models while Leo and Mikey played on the video game demo-systems. Raph however wanted to look around a bit, curious about what was new in the other sections of the store. Maybe he could even find a ball or something to play wi-

The young snapper stopped, eyes wide as he looked up at the two big plastic teddy bears. This was DEFINITELY a new store… Between the two bears was the store’s sign, written in big red letters. “Teddy… Bear… Town,” Raph read, even more curious now. A whole town just for teddy bears? Was that even a thing?

He looked inside the store, and couldn’t help but grin at all the teddies. Each of them seemed unique, with their own fur color, outfits, accessories and an official “TBT” patch sewed to the bottom of their foot.  **“Get your own Bear-y Best Bear Friend today!”** a sign above one of the bear-filled buckets read.

“A best bear friend, huh?” Raph said, thoughtful now. What would his best bear friend be like? Maybe they’d be friendly and super happy, like the cartoons he and his brothers would sometimes get to watch. Or maybe he’d be big and strong, like the animals that brave samurais would sometimes ride into battle, according to the extravagant stories his father told them. 

Or maybe they would be both! Big and friendly, but also tough and able to beat up any bad, jerky humans who tried to get into their home. “Yeah!” Raph grinned. That sounded like a great best bear friend, one that he definitely wanted. Stepping out of the store, he cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled, “HEYYYYY! POPSSSSS! COME HERE, QUICK!” After a moment, he added, “I’M NOT IN DANGER OR ANYTHING, I JUST WANT YOU TO LOOK AT SOMETHING! SO HURRY UP!”

“I’m coming, Red, I’m coming,” Splinter called back, already making his way over to his oldest, “But what did we say about yelling when it’s not an emer-?”

“I know, Pops, I know, I’m sorry,” Raph said quickly as he rushed over to his rat dad, practically dragging him the rest of the way, “But come on! You’ve gotta see this!” Once they reached Teddy Bear Town, Raph carefully picked up one of the bears. “Look! Aren’t they great?!”

Splinter frowned. The bears were indeed cute and cuddly, and he could easily understand why his child (or any child, for that matter) would want one enough to beg for it. But he also saw the huge price tag on the toy and sighed. “Red-”

“Can I please get one, Papa?” Raph asked, “ _Pleaaaaase?_ Look, I can help pay for it too!” Setting the bear down, he stuck his tongue out slightly as he dug into the pockets of his poncho and pulled out a couple quarters and a handful of rusty pennies. “Is this enough?”

Splinter shook his head, giving his son a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry Red but, that’s not even close to what we’d need…”

“...Oh.” The red turtle’s smile faltered slightly. “Well… Well, maybe they’ve got leftover teddy bears in the dumpster behind the store or, or somethin’?” Splinter didn’t say anything, but Raph could tell by his face that the idea was a long shot. No one, not even kids who didn’t like teddies, would throw toys like this away. Raph looked away, his lip quivering slightly.

“I am sorry,” his father repeated, putting a hand on his son’s shoulders and pulling him closer, in case the boy needed a hug. 

Raph quickly forced a smile, telling himself that tough big brothers didn’t cry. “I-I’m okay, Pops. I mean, teddies are pretty dumb anyway. I don’t need one…” Still, Splinter kept his hand on his shoulder for a bit longer, comforting him as much as he could before gently pushing the boy forward. 

“Come on, let’s find your brothers. We should be eating supper soon.” “Okay…”

Even at a young age, Raph knew it was pointless to be upset about something that couldn’t be changed. So, he pushed away thoughts of cute, soft teddy bears and bear-y best bear friends that mutant turtles just weren’t meant to have, and refused to remind himself of them. Thankfully, as the next few months passed, this strategy seemed to work for the most part. And, luckily, not even the lack of toys could ruin one special day for him.

Indeed, Raph was all smiles as he sat on the floor of the lair with his brothers, each of them with their own homemade gift for him. They all also had frosting on their faces from the cake they had managed to find behind one of New York’s best bakeries. It may have been a bit stale, but it was still yummy!

“Thanks guys,” Raph told them, “This has been the best seventh birthday ever!”

“But it’s the only seventh birthday you’ve ever had,” Donnie told him.

“It’s still the best!”

“And it’s not over yet,” Splinter spoke up, getting his children’s attention as he brought over a small box wrapped in newspaper and tied with some ribbon that he had managed to find. “This one is from me,” he said, patting the snapper’s head, “Happy birthday, Big Red.”

Surprised and VERY curious, Raph ripped away the newspaper with ease and opened the box. He gasped when he saw the small, black marble eyes staring back at him. It was a simple toy. There were no clothes on him, no accessories that came with him, and definitely no “TBT” patch on his foot. His fur was slightly dirty, and he carried the smell that seemed to come with most of their stuff, but none of that mattered. It was still a teddy bear. It was still HIS teddy bear, his best bear friend.

Giving a tearful smile, Raph hugged the bear tightly before giving his dad a hug. “Thanks Pops! I love you!”

Splinter cringed slightly, silently hoping that his oldest didn’t accidentally bruise his ribs (again) as he returned the hug. “Ah, y-yes, Red, I love you- erg- t-too.”

“So what’cha gonna name him?” Mikey asked after the hug ended, once Raph let them all get a closer look at the bear.

Raph thought for a moment. “...Cheech,” he answered. He wasn’t really sure where he had heard the name or how he came up with it, but as he smiled back down at the toy, it just seemed right. “Yeah, Cheech.” Cheech would be his best bear friend.

And, in a way, Raph would be Cheech’s best friend. No matter how often the toy would be accidentally ripped or torn, Raph would always make sure to keep him safe until more thread and a needle could be found. At one point, his brothers had nicknamed the toy ‘Frankenbear’ just because of how many ‘scars’ he had, but Raph didn’t care. “It just makes him tougher!” he would always argue. Thankfully, it was this love and care that kept Cheech not only together, but still plush and just as huggable as the day he was given. 

Eventually, thanks to their little family finding various ways to get cash that didn’t involve risking themselves, Raph was able to start picking up official Teddy Bear Town teddies. He was even able to get a couple of his brothers into it, helping them find their own Best Bear Friends that could provide hugs and comfort when they needed it the most. And of course, his own collection of bears grew, never feeling any embarrassment or shame whenever he placed a new one onto his shelf.

“Welcome to your new home, number 9,” he told it, smiling. Thank goodness April had helped him replace his frequent buyers card for Teddy Bear Town after the whole mutant-cockroaches-in-mascot-suits ordeal. This particular bear had been given a luchador mask, but also a plaid lumberjack’s shirt and a plush baseball bat accessory. “Hmm… Maybe Jack? Or, maybe I could call him the Masked Chopper. ...Nah, that’s just dumb. But, maybe Batt Bodyslam?”

As he thought about various names, Raph’s eyes wandered towards the center of the shelf, where a simple, slightly dirty, scar covered teddy sat between Dr. Huggenstein and Captain Snuggles.

“...Heh.” Carefully, he picked the old teddy up and hugged it tightly, thinking back to that memorable seventh birthday. “Don’t you worry, Cheech,” he said quietly, nuzzling the bear with his cheek, “You’ll always be my favorite.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who says tough guys can't love teddy bears? ^v^ I love this version of Raph, and the canon names he has for his bears, hehe. I just hope we get to see his collection one day


	15. Broadway Brainiac

“Ohmigosh, I just LOVE this part,” Mikey whispered suddenly, clasping his hands together as he watches Glinda and Elphaba step into the Emerald City.

Donnie smirked a bit at him. “You love the costumes from this part, and you only like them because they’re all green.”

“So what?” Mikey retorted, elbowing him slightly in the side, “I can’t help it if I like pretty costumes, bro! Though the song is really good too.” Soon enough he’s humming along to it, swinging his legs to and fro. And even Donnie could admit, it was a good song. 

As the number wraps up and the characters get ready to meet the Wizard, Donnie starts to reach for his tablet. He’s dimmed the light enough so that it won’t be noticed by any humans who might have been looking towards the ceiling of the theatre. Usually he’d be too entertained to even think about taking his tablet out, but there are just too many projects on his mind that night, and if he could just do a couple quick calculations-

“Ah-ah-ah!” Suddenly, the tablet is ripped from his hands.

_ “Hey!” _ Donnie hissed as he tried to make a grab for it, but is stopped Mikey puts his foot on his brother’s chest, keeping him at arm’s length. 

“Come on, Dee, you know the rules!” Mikey insisted.

“But that rule usually only applies when we’re seeing a new show, Mikey,” Donnie argued, crossing his arms, “And we’ve seen  _ ‘Wicked’ _ , what, four times now counting this one?”

“But it’s still brother-broadway night!” Mikey whimpered back at him, instantly hitting his brother where it hurt. The softshell sighed, annoyed yet understanding, given that they’re the only ones who enjoy Broadway shows and they can only have these nights one every couple months. 

“Alright, alright, I’ll pay attention,” Donnie finally agreed, “But I want my tablet back during intermission.”

“Deal,” Mikey smiled. Seeing the small pout on his purple brother’s face, Mikey gives him another small nudge. “Come on, Dee, I know you like this show as much as I do. And hey,  _ your _ favorite part is coming up right about now!”

Donnie’s face softened a bit.  _ Defying Gravity _ … As cliche is big emotional numbers about wanting something and fighting for it were, Donnie couldn’t deny that he loved them. He loved how powerful they were, how true they were… And as the opening notes of the song began to play, Donnie closed his eyes. He practically knew the scene by heart…

_ “It’s time to try defying gravity… I think I’ll try defying gravity…  _ **_And you can’t pull me down.”_ **

He imagined himself moving around the stage, getting ready to grab his flying broomstick (or flying tech-bo staff, as it were) and take off towards the skies where no one could stop him. He mouthed the words of the song as it was sung. He even felt his eyes begin to water a bit as his heart swelled and the scene reached it’s emotional climax, hence why he made sure to keep them closed. 

Soon enough the song was over and intermission had begun. “Tablet, please,” Donnie said, and Mikey obeyed. A deal was a deal. Still, even as his older brother worked, Mikey kept close by instead of trying to sneak some snacks from the theatre lobby.

“...Say, Dee,” he began to say, “You know, you’re always building such cool things for us and for Dad and for people like April and Todd… Maybe we should build something for you!”

Donnie blinked, then smiled. “Mike, that’s… That’s sweet of you to offer but, what could you guys build for me that I can’t just build myself?”

“How about a stage?” Mikey suggested without hesitation, and just like that Donnie’s smile fell. 

“Wh- ...C-Come again?”

“Come on, Donnie,” Mikey started to say, more encouraging than eager now, “I know you like this stuff. You’ve got tons of Broadway songs on your phone, and not only have I heard you singin’ along to them, I’ve seen you dance and mime along to them too!” Donnie blushed slightly at that, though he also knew there was no point in trying to deny these ‘performances’. “Soooo, why not have your own space - other than your lab - to do all this stuff AND feel like a real broadway star! I mean, maybe it won’t be actual Broadway but it’ll be somethin’!”

Despite still feeling a bit frazzled, Donnie forced himself to smile at him and patted his back. “Thanks but, I’m good, really. You can still try building a stage somewhere in the lair if you want, I’m sure you and Leo would get some use of of it. But I just… don’t need one, alright?”

Mikey frowned. “But Donnie-”

“Mikey, I said no,” Donnie argued, his tone a bit more forceful now, “Look, Broadway is just something I like, alright? I can’t just- It wouldn’t-” He scowled at himself, at his emotions getting twisted up with his words. “I promise,  _ this _ -” He gestured towards the stage- “isn’t a big deal for me. It’s just something I like doing with my little brother, okay?”

“...Fine,” Mikey said quietly, looking away. After a moment, he added with a mumble, “I just wanted to make you happy…”

Putting his tablet aside, Donnie pulled him in for a loose hug. “I AM happy, Mike. I’ve got stuff I like to do, stuff that I’m able to do. I’ve got all I need…” And besides, the idea of a mutant turtle performing on Broadway? That was just too impossible, even for a harmless hidden fantasy. 

Mikey didn’t say anything else as the audience below settled into their seats for Act Two. Despite the bittersweet nature of the show’s conclusion, both brothers enjoyed themselves, with Mikey’s smile finally returning as he watched Elphaba and Fiyero share their final kiss. Together, they stood and applauded for the cast, staying for just a minute longer before disappearing into the shadows…

It was about midnight by the time they arrived back at the lair, early for them. So, Mikey left to go play around in the game room while Donnie, naturally, went back to his lab. Ironically, entering his lab did sort of seem like entering another theatre, with his machines being his audience and the lone lamp on his work desk shining almost like a spotlight. 

The softshell shook his head. “Come on, Don… Get your head out of the stage lights.” Even if mutants weren’t feared by the surface - even if there was secretly some sort of mutant version of Broadway in the city underneath them with open auditions - there was still one fact that remained:

Donnie, at his core, wasn’t a performer. He was an inventor. A turtle of sciences, not the arts (even if some of his preferred entertainment options claimed otherwise) who had a sort of minor in Ninjitsu. 

Mikey, Leo, even Raph - they were the performers of the family. The ones that stood out. The ones who wanted an audience. The ones who ran towards the spotlight, embraced it. But it wasn’t as if they were stealing it away, Donnie knew that he both received and was given spotlight from his family quite often. After all, from the moment his talents with building and technology were discovered, he was pretty much given nothing but praise and encouragement from his brothers and father. 

Yet when it came time to take that spotlight for his own, Donnie would more often than not give it to his inventions and creations. To highlight all of his hard work, to keep the attention from being on just him and instead on being on the things that  _ really _ mattered. To avoid being in the center of the spotlight, afraid of what could be both lost and gained within it...

But, it was only logical, wasn’t it? That was his TRUE talent, after all. Making the impossible into reality and bringing the wonders only found in his mind to life, not singing and dancing and reciting monologues. That was just foolish, a total waste… 

Donnie knew his place, and accepted it - not just accepting, but was happy with it. That was what he told himself, at least. He had his brilliant mind, his skilled hands, his love of all things science and tech. He LOVED creating, loved inventing and experimenting. He loved being useful, and he loved having this useful talent. His successes, and even his failures, were worth so much more to both him and the ones he loved than simply singing his heart out on some stage somewhere. This was his place, his box. To do what he was great at, not what he _could_ be great at or occasionally wanted to do. It just had to be said over and over again: He was an inventor, not a performer. 

And yet…

And yet… 

With a silent sigh, grabbed his phone, opening the music app as he put on headphones. He scrolled through his playlist, selecting ‘MUSICALS’ without a second thought (though still with a bit of shame). As the melody flowed through his ears, Donnie let himself lightly walk towards his work desk, twirling and dancing somewhat before planting his feet firmly on the ground. Sitting down, one of the mechanical arms from his battle shell brought out a pencil for him, and he instantly got to work on the calculations he had neglected to finish earlier. 

And yet, even as he worked and wrote and thought his brilliant scientific thoughts, he couldn’t help but sing softly to himself, the spotlight beside him shining brightly. 

_ “‘If I had my time again, I would do it all the same’ they say, but that’s insane. Wouldn’t you want to make a couple of changes…?” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ending line/lyric is from "If I Had My Time Again" from the Groundhog Day musical.
> 
> So many people in the fandom say that Donnie gives off 'theatre kid' vibes, just with how he talks and gestures sometimes, and I wholeheartedly agree. Leo's not the only turtle boy with big dreams, even if Donnie is a bit reluctant to admit his... Look, until canon says otherwise, I'm totally gonna headcanon that Donnie likes Broadway musicals, either proudly or as a guilty pleasure. It just fits too well


	16. Why So Serious?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is so short, but I thought it just fit well with Mikey, and we could all use a few more Mikey Moments ^v^

A little bit of extra shading here… Some thicker lines there… No, that’s too thick now. Can’t mess up his eyes. Or his nose. Why were human noses so hard to draw? Human hands too. They sure would be a lot easier to draw if they just had three fingers, but maybe not as nimble looking. Mikey thought about it for a moment, then quickly decided that that was a fair price to pay for being able to draw them better.

“Hey, Mikey,” he heard Leo say from the doorway, “Drawing a new piece?”

Mikey looked up, stone faced with his brow low and his mouth twisted into a slight scowl. **“Yep.”**

“Whoa!” Leo flinched, taking a step back, “Everything okay, dude?”

The box-turtle blinked, his face suddenly shifting to a much softer and more normal expression. “Yeah, why?”

“It’s just… you seemed kinda angry? Or, maybe just really focused?”

“Hm, sounds kinda like him,” Mikey smirked before lifting up his sketchbook. On it was a sketch of Lou Jitsu, punching out a pair of bad guys. “I guess I was just focusing so hard that I ended up making the face I was drawing on my own face!”

“Heh, yeah!” Leo nodded, “I’ve heard of artists doing that sometimes. Also, that looks awesome! Nice work so far, Mikey.” “Thanks!”

Not wanting to interrupt his brother any longer, Leo left the room and headed down the hall to the living room. Splinter was up in his room napping, so his chair was free for Leo to watch videos on his phone in.

After watching a couple vine compilations and a leaked trailer for some action movie, Leo noticed Donnie coming into the living room as well with his tablet under his arm and a concerned look on his face. “...Say, Leon,” he began to say, “Have you seen Mikey today? I just passed by his room and he looked… I don’t know, grave? Serious? Like he’s about to go into a war battle, or something... I asked him if he was okay and he said he was but-”

“Don’t worry, he is,” Leo interrupted, “He’s drawing a picture of Lou Jitsu looking all serious and in ‘ultimate warrior’ mode, and that’s making him look all serious.”

“Ohhh, I see. Makes sense.” With nothing else to worry about, Donnie took a seat on the floor and began an episode of ‘ _How It’s Made_ ’ on his tablet.

Several minutes later, they were joined by Raph, completing their little ‘lazy saturday’ trio. “Hey, have you guys seen Mikey-?”

“Looking super serious?” Leo finished for him.

“And looking like he’s about to fight someone despite the fact that he’s just sitting at his desk?” Donnie added.

Raph blinked. “Uh, no. I was gonna say he looks like he just won the lottery or somethin’. The guy’s grinning like crazy!”

“Wait, what?”. Curious, Leo and Donnie quickly stood up and headed back towards Mikey’s room, with Raph right behind them. And sure enough, when they arrived, Mikey was still grinning happily as he drew. “Mikey…?”

“Oh, hey guys, check it out!” Once again, Mikey held up his sketch. Not much had changed with the drawing, Lou Jitsu was still fighting off two bad guys. But now, he was smiling as he fought. A toothy grin that gave off both a feeling of being victorious despite the fight not being over yet, as well as a feeling of having fun as he took out the guys who dared challenge him.

“Yeahhh, I decided I was making him too serious,” Mikey explained, “And good thing too. He’s _definitely_ better this way.”


	17. Brain Freeze Battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one, but I hope you guys like it ^v^

“-And you’re sure it’s not gonna try to cut our hands off this time?” Raph asked.

“Yes, yes,” Donnie answered, waving his older brother’s concerns away. The idea of kitchen devices doubling as security monitors had proven to be a total disaster - and if the killer blender hadn’t convinced him as that, the laser-beam shooting microwave definitely would have. “Looks, it’s fine, watch!”

Without any fear (though still with just a tiiiiiiny bit of caution), Donnie dumped two scoops of vanilla ice cream into the blender, poured in some strawberry milk, put the lid back on, and blended it all up. “See?” Donnie said, once the process was complete, “Completely harmless! Now, who wants to come up and make their own milkshake?”

His brothers looked at each other, and then at Donnie. The softshell inventor scowled. “...Okay fine, I’LL make them. Geez, you accidentally make killer kitchen gadgets  _ one time _ and suddenly everyone’s afraid of a freaking blender…” Good thing he hadn’t tried to make the waffle iron with the built-in taser and net launcher. 

Within a few minutes, all the milkshakes were made and ready to be drunk. Donnie had already taken a few sips of his while Mikey was taking the time to add extra chocolate syrup and whip cream onto his. As for Raph and Leo, they hadn’t even touched theirs. They didn’t dare, for a challenge that had been issued long ago had already been silently initiated. 

“You are so going down, Raphael,” Leo smirked.

But Raph was hardly intimidated. “No way, Leon,” he grinned, “I’m winning this thing.”

Mikey’s eyes darted back and forth between his two brothers, his hands gripping his glass tightly in anticipation. Donnie, already knowing his role in all of this, watched the clock on the wall. “Alright,” he said flatly as the seconds hand reached 12, “Ready… Set… Drink.”

Grabbing their glasses, the two turtles began sipping down their milkshakes as fast as possible. Leo took quick fast sips while Raph, having the larger lungs and mouth, opted for the strategy of taking long sips. 

Neither one broke eye contact, their expressions deadly serious as they waited patiently for one of them to break. The seconds ticked by... The tension in the room rose higher and higher... And then, when their glasses were about halfway empty-

“GAHHHHHHH!” Leo screamed out, gripping his head, “OWOWOWWWWWW!”

“Yes!” Raph fistpumped, “I told you! I- AH! AH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! GRAHHHHH!” He too gripped his head tightly, trying to rub the pain away.

“Aw man, that was a really close one!” Mikey commented as he turned to Donnie, “So what’s the score this time, Dee?”

“Well, if we look at the Brainfreeze Challenge scoreboard,” Donnie began, clicking on the notes app on his phone, “Raph may have won this round, but Leo is still ahead by one after winning both the challenge and the rematch last month.”

“Aw, what?!” “Ha! In your face, Raph-OW! Oh it still hurts! Oh WOW that is painful!”

“But, of course, since we all know you two will literally never end this stupid contest,” Donnie continued, “Raph still has a chance to take back the lead.”

“Yaaaaay…” the snapper smiled weakly.

After taking a long sip of his own milkshake, Mikey had a thought. “Hey Dee, how ‘bout you and I do it with them next time? Make things more interesting!”

“You can, if you want,” Donnie told him as he took his straw and stuck it in his blue brother’s milkshake, knowing that he couldn’t stop him from stealing a sip. “Watching is enough of a victory for me.”


	18. Baby Blue Eyes

If Splinter had to guess, he would’ve said that it had been about midnight when he heard the noise outside his room that had woken him up. And when it happened again, he nearly took out the shuriken he always had hidden on him. But then, he noticed the small shadow, and simply sighed.

Within seconds, he felt a tiny body crawl up onto the end of his bed and move towards the top of it. “Hi, Dad!” Leo said as soon as he was close enough, giving the rat man a bright smile.

“Hello, Blue,” Splinter mumbled, “And Goodbye. Go back to bed.”

“Can’t sleep,” Leo replied. He began crawling on top of his father, taking a seat on his belly. “Wanna watch tv?”

“No. What I _want_ is to go back to sleep,” Splinter answered, already closing his eyes, “Which is what _you_ should be doing…” Leo pouted slightly, and poked Splinter’s nose to make him open his eyes again. “Ugh, Blue…”

“I can’t sleep,” the boy repeated, “But if I HAVE to go to bed… Could you sing me my song first?”

“...You know I didn’t write that song, right?” Splinter asked him, sitting up slightly as he gave a long yawn.

Leo giggled, laying down now so he could cuddle up to his father’s chest. “Yeah yeah, I know,” he said, recalling when they’d heard the song on the radio, just a couple days after Donnie had fixed it up. “I know it was made by some guy who was singing about some girl he liked. But it’s got my name in it, so I like to pretend that the song was made for me too! So can you sing it? Pleaaaase?”

As tired as he felt, Splinter still gave a slightly amused smile at his blue son. “...If I sing to you, do you promise to sleep?” “Uh huh!” “Okay…”

Moving his arms so he could properly hold the four year old red-eared slider, Splinter began to hum - both to relax his son and because he didn’t remember the beginning of the song.

“Hm hm-hm, hm hm-hm, eyes, something something, falling in love, da da-da, something love~”

Leo laughed again, but waited patiently for the chorus to come. His father didn’t have the greatest singing voice - it was sort of low, sort of gravely and a bit out of tune, but it was comforting nonetheless.

_“Oh, baby, baby blue eyes, stay with me by my side, till the morning and through the ni-iiight… Stand here, holding my sides, close your baby blue eyes, every moment feels right… And I may feel like a fool, but I’m the only one dancing with you~”_

“How come he’s callin’ himself a fool for loving someone?” Leo asked, tilting his head slightly.

“Sometimes people do foolish things when they’re in love,” Splinter answered, “And I should know, I’ve been in love quite a few times…” He then gave a mischievous smirk. “I’ve kissed lots of pretty people too.”

“Gah! Dadddd, grosssss!” Leo whined, sticking his tongue out.

But Splinter just laughed. “What? There is nothing wrong with kissing! You might end up kissing some pretty people one day too.” “EWWWWWW!” The rat laughed again, shaking his head. “Alright now, settle down.”

“You started it,” Leo mumbled, giving a bit of a pout before grinning back at him. “Come on, come on, you-” A yawn interrupted him. “Y-You gotta finish the song, Dad! I can’t sleep if you don’t.”

“Alright, alright.” Hopping down from his bed, Splinter began to sway slightly as he carried his son back to his own bed, subtly rocking him as he began to hum again. He heard Leo yawn once more, and Splinter softened his voice a bit, knowing that the boy would most likely be fast asleep by the end of the song. Still, Splinter finished it, just as he had promised.

_“Oh, baby, baby blue eyes, stay with me by my side, till the morning and through the ni-iiight… Stand here, holding my sides, close your baby blue eyes, every moment feels right… And I may feel like a fool, but I’m the only one dancing with you~”_

Gently tucking the boy in, Splinter then leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. Leo didn’t stir, but he did smile a bit in his sleep. “Heh…” The rat dad sighed, a soft smile still resting on his furry face. Children may have been tiring at times - especially mutant turtle children - but they truly were a gift.

“Good night, Baby Blue,” Splinter whispered, giving Leo one last look before leaving, his footsteps as silent as a ninja’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's just soooooo cute how Splinter calls Raph and Leo 'Big Red' and 'Baby Blue', hehe ^v^ Definitely one of my favorite bits to come out of the 'Down With the Sickness' episode. Now we just need to know Mikey/Orange and Donnie/Purple's pet names. My guess is 'Little Orange Sunshine' for Mikey, though that's a bit long... And I have no idea what could be Donnie's since not a lot of things go with purple. Oh well, hopefully they're said in the show at some point. 
> 
> Also, the song in this chapter is "Baby Blue Eyes" by A Rocket to the Moon.


	19. Last Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I just wanted to say THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I just can't believe how many comments and kudos I've gotten on this fic, way more than I ever could've imagined - especially in these last couple weeks. There are no words to describe how happy I feel when I read the comments I get and and I get to hear about how much people are enjoying my work. Stuff like this is not only encouraging, but it just feels good! So yeah, just... thank you all so much! ^v^ 
> 
> As for this chapter, it was kinda inspired by that one line in the TMNT 2014 movie after Donnie takes out Shredder's mutation machine thingy: "Who wants Italian?! I'm buying! Tiramisu for everybody!" Lol, enjoy!

In their opinion, there wasn’t any food out there that could outrank pizza - no matter how delicious it was. ...However, tiramisu came pretty darn close.

Raph liked how hardy it was as a dessert. Sure it was sweet, but unlike something like a cupcake or a candy, tiramisu just had so much more to it. More cake, more filling, more flavor - more deliciousness! And, he could admit, the cheese in the dessert was a nice touch.

Leo loved the sweetness of tiramisu, so sugary and yummy. Even with a slight bitterness and sponginess, it was still able to satisfy the blue turtle’s sweet tooth without being sickenly sweet. With a dash of cocoa and a couple berries on top, it was the perfect bite to end a meal on.

And Donnie, well… Donnie just liked that it was made with coffee.

Yes, to a mutant turtle, there was almost no better dessert than tiramisu… and at the moment, a single square piece of it had three eyes glued to it.

“...You sure you don’t want this, Mike?” Raph asked as his brothers continued to stare, licking their lips, “Cause this is your last warning, it’s gonna be gone in a second!”

“I’m good!” Mikey called back from the sink, rinsing off a plate. Normally when he made tiramisu, each of them were able to have two pieces of it. However, the box-turtle had gotten a bit carried away with his taste testing as he cooked that night, and that plus a totally filling supper afterwards- “I’m stuffed, so you guys are free to have it!”

“...Well then,” Raph began, smirking as he stretched his hand towards the remaining piece, “As the oldest and the biggest, it only makes sense-”

“Oh don’t even start with that,” Donnie scowled, slapping the big hand away.

“Yeah!” Leo agreed, “I mean… if anything the YOUNGEST of us should get it, aaaand since I’m the youngest after Mikey-”

 _“NO!”_ Donnie snapped, glaring at the blue turtle now, “We are NOT deciding this by age. Look, how about we simply decide this by a quick game of Rock, Paper, Scis-”

Raph scoffed, crossing his arms. “Tc’ch, says the guy who can predict what everyone’s gonna pick cause of ‘probability science’ and all that stuff.” Donnie just shrugged in a ‘don’t hate the player’ way.

“Well fine, ‘leader’, how do you think we can decide?” Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Easy! We- uh… We, hmm…” The snapper thought for a couple moments. “We… flip a coin?”

“That’s fair in a way, I suppose,” Donnie commented, “Though it still feels sort of cheap, putting it all on a fifty-fifty split. Besides, when you really think about it, coin tosses are pretty skewed despite having a ‘fair’ appearance. Whoever flips it could easily control how high it goes, how fast it spins, and all-in-all have a higher chance of correctly predicting-”

“We get it, Donnie,” Leo interrupted, not wanting his brother to get too caught up in ‘speech mode’ again.

“Hmph, you’re just sayin’ that cause you don’t wanna lose,” Raph mumbled, his eyes moving back to the delicious dessert. “Ugh, whatever, let’s just decide already!”

“What do you think we’re trying to do, Raph?” Donnie said, rolling his eyes. This was getting ridiculous… Yet he didn’t want to just give in. The coffee and cocoa-coated cake was practically calling his name! “Hmm… Maybe a staring contest?” That was something he had a pretty good chance at with how often he stared at screens for hours on end.

Unfortunately, his brothers seemed to know this too. “How about instead we just race for it?” Leo suggested, “We race around the lair, and whoever gets back to the kitchen first gets it! That’s fair, right?”

“Ignoring the fact that you’re clearly the fastest, do you really want to run on a full stomach?” Donnie asked.

Leo thought about it, then grimaced at the idea. “...Well then what do you suggest, whoever answers some trivia question correctly gets it?”

“...I mean, I was thinking about it.”

“Yeah, no.” “Not happenin’, Dee.”

So, with no solution in sight, the three brothers sat there, and stared at the remaining piece… A piece that was clearly big enough to share evenly, yet still too delicious to only have a sliver of (at least in their opinion). So, they were at a stalemate.

Mikey sighed, turning off the faucet. “Seriously, guys?” At this point the cake was going to get all crusty and dried out by the time they finally decided! Maybe he should’ve just ate it in the first place…

“...Why are Red, Blue and Purple staring at that tiramisu instead of eating it?”

Mikey glanced down where his father now stood in the kitchen, an empty take-out leftover box in his hand. “Oh, they’re just trying to decide who gets the last of the dessert,” he answered, “And they can’t decide how to do it.”

“Oh, is that all? Well, that’s an easy enough solution!” Without another word, Splinter walked over to the table, picked up the dessert and ate it all in one bite.

For several seconds, the turtles could only stare in shocked silence. But slowly, Mikey began to giggle, and just before that turned into full-on laughter, his brothers cried out in dismay, “DAAAAAAAD!”

“Oh what, do not ‘ _daaad_ ’ me!” Splinter told them, “You all have already had your dessert, anyway, and now you are all equally disappointed. It’s fair! Besides, I was not about to let Orange’s baking go to waste! ...Speaking of which-” He licked his lips, getting the last of the whipped cream and sugar off his whiskers. “Great job as always! Very yummy!”

“Thanks, Dad!” Mikey said, still snickering a bit as the other three turtles pouted.

“Geez, pop, ya don’t have to rub it in,” Raph grumbled.


	20. Training Daze

“...Sit.”

“...”

_“Sit.”_

“...”

“Sit!”

***ruff ruff!***

“No, not-” Donnie sighed, facepalming for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Puppies may have been cute, but man were they frustrating… About as frustrating as the situation that  had first led them to this place months ago had been.

Sure, helping Todd with his puppy paradise had been an annoying, week-long detour to their mission, yet at the same time Donnie had never been the type of turtle to leave a project unfinished, nor did he believe that anything was really ever ‘finished’. Everything needed improvements and repairs and, well, who could say no to new upgrades?

But, among all the robot helper repairs and fence fixing and designing new toys for the pups to play with, another project had moved itself to the forefront of Donnie’s mind - one that could help the puppy charity quite a bit in the long run, just as much as anything he could build could.

Hence- “I command you to SIT!”

The golden retriever puppy happily chased his tail before laying down in the soft grass, being content to simply back-scratch his troubles (as few as they were) away.

Donnie groaned. “Come on, your breed recognizes human speech and tone 7.8% better than most breeds so I know you can understand me! Please, just-”

“Hey! Donatello!” Turning his head slightly, Donnie could see the happy-go-lucky capybara-man walking towards him, a pitcher of his infamous ‘sunshine-y’ lemonade in his hands. “How goes the training?” he asked.

“Ugh, not so good,” Donnie admitted. He quickly took a glass of lemonade, hoping to stave off his headache for at least a couple more hours. “I mean, no matter what I do I just can’t get these guys to- SIT!”

Okay, maybe making a sudden command in the hopes that it would somehow surprise the cute pup into obeying wasn’t the smartest idea persay but, come on, he was getting desperate!

Not that it mattered, really. The golden retriever just let out another yap before scratching his ear. “Aww, don’t worry about it,” Todd began to say, “They’re just-”

“Cute little bundles of fluff and happiness, I know,” Donnie said dryly, “But remember, Todd, we talked about this. Dogs have twice the chance of being adopted when they know basic commands, so if you want these guys to find homes and this place to last, they have to be trained!”

“But they’re housebroken!” Todd told him, “That's pretty impressive to most folks, right? And you know, I saw a couple of your brothers over here the other day, and they seemed to have the dogs pretty well trained, having the pups follow them around and go through all those great obstacle courses you built for us. Aw, you should’a seen it, Donatello! Everyone looked so happy running around and having fun~!”

Donnie’s eye twitched slightly. Yyyyep, he was definitely getting that headache now… “Well, maybe they only listen to people they like then,” the softshell mumbled.

Todd gave a bit of a gasp at that. “Aww, of course the puppies like you! How could they not? Look, how about you try again - but this time, maybe you just ask ‘im nicely?”

“‘Nicely’?” Donnie repeated, “But the studies show that dogs respond best to firm commands and repetitive-” He stopped. “...Oh what the heck, I’ll give a shot.” Crouching down to better be at the puppy’s eye level, Donnie clasped his hands together and tried to smile.

“Can you _pleaaaase_ sit for me, boy?” he asked, “Come on, buddy, I know you can do it!”

The puppy stared at him, and slowly began to lower his backside. Donnie could feel his smile start to become genuine. Yes, yes-!

 ***RUFF!*** Suddenly, the retriever pounced, his tiny paws hitting Donnie square in the chest and knocking him off his balance and straight back to the ground. And, before he could even try to get up, Donnie felt several more puppies come out of nowhere to join their mischievous brother, giving the turtle plenty of puppy kisses as they ran all over his body.

“D’awwww, you see!” Todd grinned, “I told you! The puppies like you, they just don’t like listening to you!”

Donnie sighed. Too done with everything to even facepalm, he simply started petting the puppy closest to his hand. “Well, at least they like me.” ***RUFF!***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love that 'Hypno: Part Deux' showed Donnie back at the puppy place doing repairs/building new things for them. He's such a sweet guy ^v^


	21. Sixteen Candles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small warning for alcohol mentions/references, though no actual alcohol is actually drank

“Whoaaa, guys! Look at this!” 

Everyone looked up from their own devices - not really having anything else better to do while they waited on rooftops for mutant attacks, calls from Donnie’s police scanner, or anything else strange that could happen that night - and directed their attention to Raph’s phone. On its screen was a picture of what looked like some sort of collectable DVD set. 

“It’s a Best Of set for the NYC Wrestling League!” Raph explained, “SO cool! Twenty years of all the greatest matches this city’s ever seen! All in HD, all with original commentary, all of it uncut - and it even comes with collectible posters!”

Mikey and Donnie oooh’d in unison while Leo and April, being not too into wrestling themselves, just smiled in amusement at the snapper’s excitement. “Do you think they have any Liberty League matches on there?” “Ooh, or that one guy who had that whole Egyptian mummy theme going on? He was AWESOME!” “Yeah he was! Trust me, guys,  _ all  _ the greats’ll be on there!”

“I wonder if I’ll be on there, then,” Leo smirked. Raph immediately threw one of their empty cans of pop at him, with Leo just barely managing to dodge it. “Heh, kidding, kidding!” he laughed.

“Definitely seems like a pretty cool find,” April commented, “Though, it seems like something like that would cost a pretty penny too.”

“Yeah, I know…” Raph frowned, exiting off the internet screen and turning his phone off. While his family certainly liked the idea of ‘treating yo’ self’, they didn’t exactly have the funds to follow this ideal. Most of what they had was either homemade, found in a dump or bought cheap at pawn shops and dollar stores. Hence, personal treating was a pretty rare occurrence in their household, unfortunately. “And there’s other stuff I want too… I’m gonna need heavier weights soon, and there’s a couple cool fighting games comin’ out too, and the new Teddy Bear Town bears…” He gave a huff. Whoever said more money equaled more problems clearly had never experienced the opposite. 

“Well, I could keep an eye out for heavy metal at the dump and then attach them to your old weights with a blow torch,” Donnie offered, “That could eliminate at least one of the choices, at least for now.”

“Yeah!” Leo nodded, “And as for the other choice, maybe Dad’ll try and get it for you in four months!”

“Yeah, I guess so…” Raph paused. “...What’s in four months?”

His family looked at him, then at each other, then back at him before finally shouting in unison, “Your birthday!”

“...Oh,” Raph said, blinking.

“I can’t believe you forgot about it, man,” Mikey said, snickering a bit. 

“Hey, I didn’t forget!” Raph argued, “I just, you know, didn’t realize it was so close! I’ve been busy, you know, a-and it’s hard to keep track of time!”

“True,” Donnie nodded, “Heh, remember how excited you were for your thirteenth birthday?”

“Ugh, I certainly do,” Leo answered before his big brother could, with April and Mikey nodding in agreement, “I swore you reminded us at least once a week for like five months!”

“Yeah well, could ya blame me? I was excited! I was finally becomin’ a teenager!” He then smirked a bit. “I wonder if Pops’ ‘allergies’ will come back on this birthday,” he wondered, thinking back to the so-called watery eye-inducing allergies that had struck Splinter on Raph’s thirteen birthday. Allergies that were twice as strong when Donnie and Leo turned thirteen, and were DEFINITELY present when his youngest finally became a teenager. 

“Heh, maybe,” Leo shrugged, “I mean, sixteen is supposed to be just as big as thirteen, isn’t it?” All the turtles turned to April, their only source of information on the subject. 

“Well, if you’re a rich girl, a sweet sixteen can be pretty big,” she answered, “But even if you aren’t rich, being sixteen is pretty nice. I finally have my license! ...Though I still have to borrow my dad’s car, otherwise I have to just take the bus. But I can buy a lottery ticket! ...Eeeeeven though those are kind of a waste of money unless you’re  _ really _ lucky. And, if you guys haven’t already figured it out, sixteen is also when most teens start getting jobs.” Unfortunately, she added silently as she took a long sip from her pop. 

“...Geez, when you put it like that, being sixteen is kind of stuck between being the worst and not mattering at all,” Donnie said bluntly.

But, while this conclusion made Raph scowl a bit, it also made April laugh. “Well, yeahhh, but it’s not all bad. Sixteen and seventeen are the closest you can be to being an adult without actually being one, so you get a lot of independence without bein’ completely on your own. Besides, a lot of the sucky stuff doesn’t even apply to you guys.” Being ninjas was already sort of their job, in a sense, and all of them had been behind the wheel of a vehicle at some point - even Mikey - without even having a learner’s permit.

“Huh, so I guess sixteen is still kind of a big deal, then,” Raph said, leaning back on his hands. Maybe sixteen wasn’t the most important birthday ever, but the number still echoed around in his head.  _ Sixteen… Sixteen… _

“Did your dad do anything special for you on your Sweet Sixteen?” Mikey asked, tilting his head a bit.  

“Well, he already knew about the late night plans I had with you guys, so we went out to lunch.” April smiled warmly at the memory. “We went to this really nice restaurant in Chinatown and practically had a feast for two. And of course he had the waiters sing happy birthday to me, which was  _ kind of  _ embarrassing but, also really sweet. Then he gave me my presents - these really pretty earrings and a gift card to Gilbert’s Department Store - we hung out at home for a couple hours, and that was about it. I guess when you think about it, it wasn’t that special but… it still  _ felt  _ special, you know?”

After thinking about it for a moment, the turtles nodded. “Yeah, it seemed really nice,” Mikey smiled. 

Raph glanced up towards the muted NYC evening sky, squinting slightly as he looked for stars. “...Maybe Pop will let me have a sip of his  _ sake _ for turning sixteen. That’d be pretty special! ...What’s the drinking age in Japan anyway?”

April chuckled. “I don’t know about Japan but I’m pretty sure the drinking age here is still twenty-one, no matter where your booze comes from.”

“Oh. Dang.”

“Well, you’ll still get a party, at least,” Leo told him, “And I guess we could make it a themed party or something. Like, wrestling themed or whatever. That’d be pretty special!”

“Don’t forget about the special gifts,” Donnie added in.

“And we can make special decorations,” Mikey chimed, “And look up a special cake recipe too!”

“Heh, yeah,” Raph told them, smiling despite his gaze never leaving the sky, “That sounds pretty cool too…”

It was strange… Just three years ago, he couldn’t wait to grow up. But now, he wasn’t so sure. Soon he’d be sixteen, then eighteen, then twenty-one. No longer a mutant turtle teen, but a full fledged adult. What would his life even be like by then? How much would change, and how much would stay the same? And that wouldn’t even be the end of it - soon after that he’d be thirty, then forty, fifty, sixty-! An image of himself as an old man turtle popped into his head, his muscles too shriveled and weak to take out even a single origami ninja. 

Holding back a yelp, Raph quickly tried to push the awful thought away from his mind. Maybe being only fifteen for a while longer wasn’t such a bad idea… Bringing his thoughts back down to earth, he could hear his family continuing with the conversation.

“-and when I hit my sweet sixteen, you better believe I’m having a huge bash,” Leo announced, “And it wouldn’t even have to stay in the sewers! We could just turn the Turtle Tank into a party bus and drive around the city partying all night long! Just the five of us having time of our lives - and maybe pausing the party to stop a baddie or two, just for a bit of extra fun!”

“Oooh, that actually does sound pretty fun,” April grinned, “And if that does happen, you can definitely count me in! Hey, maybe for my seventeenth birthday I can borrow the car and we can drive up to my family’s old farm house. There’s no one around for miles, we could party for a whole weekend if we wanted to with no interruptions! Maybe do some camping too!”

“I’ll admit, both of those ideas sound pretty good,” Donnie smirked, “Though, Leon, I one-hundred percent forbid confetti cannons and glitter bombs in our Turtle Tank, just fyi.”  “Ugh,  _ Fiiiiine. _ ” “Thank you. Anyway, while I may not have any huge party plans at the moment, what I DO know that when I turn eighteen, the most fulfilling thing to me will finally being allowed to watch all those R-rated movies that Splinter keeps in his room, as well as any that are in theaters by then.”

“Oh wow, I totally forgot about those!” Leo exclaimed, “Yeah, what is up with that?! I mean, yeah, maybe that made sense when we were ten but, come on, we’re ninjas! We can totally handle ‘excessive gore and violence’ and ‘adult situations’ now!”

“I don’t even know,” Donnie huffed, clearly annoyed that he still had to wait four more years to satisfy his curiosity, “But I can’t wait until that rule is null and void, when not even Dad can stop me from watching them! I don’t care how ‘adult’ they are or how bad the effects in them are!”

“Well I can’t wait to turn twenty-one!” Mikey added in, “Cause when I do, I’m getting as many different types of alcohol as I can!” When he saw the shocked looks his family - including Raph - was giving him, he simply replied with a “What? Lots of dishes use stuff like red wine and  _ sake _ and tequila in them, and I wanna try them all! Oh, and I wanna try to get into a casino.”

“Why the heck would you wanna go to one of those?” April asked.

“To play the games, duh! I mean, even if I don’t win they still seem pretty fun, right?” “Yeahhh, just make sure you take one of us with you when you go, okay Mike?”

As the four of them continued to talk and laugh about the various gifts and abilities that certain birthdays granted them, Raph found himself slowly relaxing as a smile crept back onto his face. 

Maybe he couldn’t stop himself from growing up, and maybe becoming an adult was as scary as it was thrilling, but at least he had other people to grow up with.


	22. #ShortDadProblems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another super short one, but as soon as I thought of the ending line, I just couldn't resist, hehe ^v^

_ “And now, you have the choice to take what you have and walk away, or… You can exchange it all for what’s behind one of these doors!” _

_ “I’ll take the doors! I’LL TAKE THE DOORS!” _

“Ugh,” Splinter shook his head, “Disgraceful! You never take the door prizes! You take what you’ve rightfully won and avoid looking like a greedy fool! Honestly, they moved Scorpion Treadmill and Rolling Gong Panic reruns for this?!”

The rat-man scoffed again as the contestant, predictably, picked the door that had a lifetime supply of microwavable ramen bowls behind it. “I tried to warn you…” Though, seeing all the ramen did make his stomach grumble. His sensitive ears also picked up the sounds of his sons bustling about in the kitchen. Normally he’d just yell for one of them and ask them to bring some of whatever they were making to him, but-

“Eh, it’s not like I’ll be missing anything.” So with that, Splinter hopped out of his chair and headed down the hall.

By the time he entered, Leo and Donnie had moved on from lightly debating mustard vs mayo to instead debating what type of bread was best for a sandwich (with Donnie arguing for whole wheat while Leo insisted there was no better than rye). As for Raph, he was trying to stack as many pieces of meat on his sandwich as he could while Mikey was already chowing down on his own slightly messy sandwich. 

Giving them a small wave hello, Splinter wordlessly grabbed a couple pieces of white bread before grabbing the cheese and butter from the fridge and a clean skillet from the cabinet (as well as the step stool from the corner).  Within five minutes, he had his delicious grilled cheese. “Now THAT, is a sandwich,” he sighed, his nose twitching happily at the heavenly smell of it.

But, what was lunch without tea? With his sandwich safely in one hand and his step stool in the other, Splinter moved to the other side of the kitchen. He opened up their designated drink mix cabinet… and found absolutely nothing on the first shelf of it. Slowly, he brought his gaze up. Second shelf, third shelf- “Of course,” he grumbled, glaring at the final shelf where his coveted box of black tea sat. 

He tried to reach for it, stretching as much as he could without risking losing his balance. He managed to reach the second shelf, where only dust and a couple old containers of spice sat. Not even close. 

When it became obvious that using his arms wouldn't work, Splinter tried using his tail, figuring it was longer than either of his arms. Unfortunately, while it was able to just barely reach the third shelf, the tip of his tail wasn’t getting anywhere near his tea. 

“Grrrr…” Setting his plate down on the counter, he was about to start climbing the darn thingwhen suddenly a giant, green arm from above seemed to come out of nowhere and grab the box for him.

“Oh man, sorry, Pops,” Raph apologized, handing him the tea, “Forgot to put it down on the bottom shelf. My bad.”

“Ooh, are we making tea?” Leo asked, “Cause I’ve gotta say-” With ease, he stretched up and grabbed another box. “It’s sort of feeling like a green tea kind of day.”

“Well, if we’ve already got the water boiling-” With ease, Donnie was not only able to reach the top shelf of the cabinet, but reach inside it and pull out the box of oolong tea that had been shoved to the very back. 

“I’ll get the cups!” Mikey offered, and Splinter almost couldn’t believe his eyes. Even his youngest could reach up and grab five tea cups and a couple tea pots, and he didn’t even have to completely stand on the tips of his toes to do it! “Here you go, Dad! Got your favorite!” he said, handing it to his father.

Staring down at the beautifully painted cup, Splinter frowned. “...You know, some days I wish you boys were still toddlers,” he said wistfully. 

“Aww,” Leo smiled, giving his father a small pat on the shoulder, “Is it because, even though you’re proud and happy that we’re growing up, you still wish we could stay your baby boys forever?”

“NO!” Splinter shouted, his face now in an expression that seemed to mix a scowl and a pout, “It’s because if you four were still toddlers, then I would still be the tallest in this family!”


	23. Put Your Hair Up

At age twelve, April refused to wear any of her hair ties. In the entirety of her first day of middle school, she didn’t see a single other girl with pigtails, and she knew she didn’t have a choice.

Of course, this change didn’t go unnoticed by her friends.

“Whoaaa, April! You look so weird! I mean, not weird in a bad way! You’re still really pretty and stuff but-”

“Yeah, I know,” April said, giving the orange turtle a small smile as she twisted a stray strand of long hair around her finger, “I just, you know, wanted to change up my look! New school, new social life… Might as well, right?”

Mikey shrugged. “I guess so…” April didn’t really expect a nine year old, homeschooled mutant turtle with no hair to understand, but at least he didn’t judge her. The others seemed to like it too, even if they didn’t understand why she refused to put her hair back up, even as it continually got caught in her mouth or nearly blinded her whenever she was running to keep up with them or taking a ride on Donnie’s new hover shell.

Things only became more frustrating as the rain and humidity came in.

“-Well, I think it looks cool,” Raph insisted.

“Yeah!” Leo nodded, tempted to reach up and try to pet it again (though held himself back when he noticed the warning April was giving him out of the corner of her eye), “You look like- like one of those poodles.” "Oh yeah, I could see that-!"

Fists clenched at her sides, April spun around. “Okay. Word of advice, _Leonardo_. Humans don’t really like being compared to dogs, ESPECIALLY when it comes to their looks!” With that, she put her hood back up, smothering her frizzy, poofy hair as much as she could.

“But- But it was a compliment!” Leo called out, “...Wasn’t it?” He looked to his brothers, who could only offer confused shrugs.

At age thirteen, April dubbed it the year of the up-do. Everything (with the exception of the obvious) was tried, from ballerina buns to low buns, high ponytails and low ponytails and even side ponytails. They all got the job done, keeping her hair out of her eyes while still allowing her to look good, so in that sense they were successful. Yet, after about a week of looking at them in the mirror, April would always suddenly feel dissatisfied with them and pin her hair up a different way. Ponytail, bun, ponytail, bun, high, low, high, low-

“Ha! I told you she was going to go low today!” Donnie grinned, “Okay gentlemen, pay up.”

“Man…” Leo stuck his tongue out, grabbing a couple dollar bills from his wallet while Raph simply (and reluctantly) dropped a handful of quarters and dimes on the coffee table in front of his purple brother. “I thought for sure she was gonna wear her hair high today!”

“Seriously?” April raised an eyebrow, “You guys bet on a lot of weird things, but now you’re bettin’ on my hairstyles?”

“Well, you do change them a lot,” Donnie countered as he collected his winnings.

The girl sighed. “Yeah, I know… It’s just hard, you know? They all feel alright but, none of them like _me_ . They’re all good styles, they’re just not _my_ style, you know?”

“Then, what is your style?” Raph asked curiously. April could only offer a shrug. “Hmm… Maybe you could wear a top knot and then shave the bottom half of your hair! Like a samurai or somethin’!”

April nearly snorted. “Thanks Raph but, I don’t think so.”

“You could use a bunch of hairspray and just make your hair stick up real crazy like anime hair!” Leo suggested, “That’s a style, right?”

“It’s certainly crazy, and there is _no way_ I’m doing that.”

“What about braids?” Donnie asked, “Those seem simple enough. You just weave your hair like you’re weaving a rope, right? And then you tie it off and, boom, you’re done!”

While April appreciated the effort Donnie obviously put into researching actual normal hairstyles, she still had to shake her head. You guys may not know this, but thick and curly hair like mine can take forEVER to braid, and I definitely don’t want to deal with that hassle every morning, no matter how pretty it may look.” Though she could always try straightening her hair to make it easier, but at this point, her curls were the only thing about her hair that she still liked.

“What about your pigtails?” Turning her head, April saw Mikey on the couch, giving her that same curious look he gave her when he first saw her without them. “I still think they look pretty,” he insisted, “And they seemed like your style too!”

April gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Thanks Mikey but, I’m done with pigtails.”

At age fourteen, April did something she never thought she’d ever do and cut nearly all her hair off, leaving her with a very cute pixie cut. Of all the styles she had tried, this definitely seemed like the most successful. She could pull the short look off in her sleep, and even if most of them still didn’t remember her name, she received several compliments on her new style from various kids at school - and even more from her friends down in the sewers.

It was a cool cut, there was no denying that. Useful too, with no hair in her face and no scrunchies to keep track of. In a way, it was the perfect look.

And yet, as it began growing out and her father reminded her that if she wanted to keep the style she’d need to schedule a haircut soon, she found herself twisting the hair up and clenching it in her fist, wishing it was long enough to tie up.

“...What’s so bad about pigtails anyway?” Mikey asked as he absentmindedly doodled a picture of a pig with two tails and three heads in his sketchbook.

“I told you, Mikey,” April sighed, practically tossing the book she had been assigned to read onto the hard floor, “It’s just not a style you can wear once you get past a certain age and, well, I’m past that age! It’s… it’s kiddy and, and lame and-”

“And pretty,” Mikey argued, “And you liked wearing them, so what’s it matter?”

April looked away, wanting to argue but not having anything to say, eventually settling on, “You just don’t get it.”

“...Yeah, I guess I don’t,” Mikey frowned, looking away as well. Almost immediately, April felt guilt filling her chest.

“Mike… Mikey, come on, I didn’t mean it like that.” Moving from the couch to the floor, April pulled the box-turtle in for a hug, one that (thankfully) he accepted and returned. “I’m sorry… I’m just frustrated.”

“I know,” Mikey nodded, “That’s why I was just trying to help. And... maybe I don’t know about middle school but, I do know about being cool. I wanna look cool in front of you guys all the time!” He paused, suddenly looking serious. “But, if you guys ever decided that me painting my shell and trying out different styles and designs was uncool, well… Then I’d feel like being cool was just the worst thing ever!”

April smiled a little. “Yeah… You wouldn’t be Mikey without your paint streaks.”

“And you aren’t April without your pigtails,” Mikey replied, smiling back at her, “It’d be like someone saying you aren’t allowed to wear your favorite color, it’s just not fair.”

“...You’re right,” she nodded as she pulled on her hair again, “It’s not.”

“Hmph.” Mikey put on a ‘tough’ scowl. “Well then, that settles it. Really cool people like us shouldn’t have to deal with stuff being unfair! So we’re gonna wear our colors and our hair and whatever else we want, and anyone who says otherwise, well… well they can just go eat sewer scum!”

April blinked, shocked by the sudden declaration before falling into a fit of giggles. “Wowwww, heh. Has your pop heard you talkin’ like that?”

Remembering the last few words of his ‘speech’, Mikey suddenly gave a sheepish grin that just screamed ‘please don’t tell Dad’. “I mean… It’s still not as bad as some of the stuff I’ve heard Raph and Donnie say!”

April laughed again, shaking her head as the orange turtle laughed along with her. Maybe it was a bit crude, but there was some truth to it…

At age sixteen, April is looking at herself in the mirror, trying to decide which shade of green hair tie to go with before finally deciding on the emerald green ones with the hand-painted turtle shell charms attached to them.

As she tied up her hair, she heard her phone go off. A quick check reveals a text:

 **_Michealang-orange:_ ** _Silverfish mutants spotted on 45th!! wanna go after them before we hit up the central park courts? *basketball emoji*_

 **_A-Girl:_ ** _Be there in ten~_

Sticking the phone back in her pocket, April then took one last look at her reflection and smiled. “Perfect.”

Maybe she’d stop wearing pigtails eventually, once she found the perfect style to replace them with - one that was just as much _her_ as they were. But for now, she’d wear her hair up with pride, and anyone who disagreed… Well, they could just go eat sewer scum.


	24. Class in Session

In a city like New York, hearing your window open while you were home alone would’ve definitely been a cause for alarm (and for calling the police). However, for April - whose brothers had a bit of a habit of sort of ‘breaking in’ to her home whenever they wanted to hang out, one that they probably wouldn’t change anytime soon - she didn’t even look up from the coffee table she was working at.

‘At least they didn’t kick my door down, this time,’ April thought to herself, smirking. She did a pretty good job of discouraging that method though. And besides- she noticed Mayhem lift his head, giving a curious purr before curling back up on his bed for some more Z’s. If she was in any real danger, the dog-cat-mutant pet definitely would’ve known before she did.

Sure enough, a couple seconds later, a green and blue figure walked up to her, peering over her shoulder. “Wait, you’re doing homework?” Leo asked, “But it’s Saturday night! You’re never busy Saturdays!

“I know, I know,” April sighed, “But I’ve been puttin’ it off since yesterday, and I’ve got a test on Monday so, I figured I should get in as much studying as I can. Ugh…”

Leo gave her a sympathetic look as he sat down across from her. “That sucks… But I mean, it shouldn’t take too long, right? You just, you know… do math stuff! Right? Shouldn’t be too hard.”

April honestly didn’t know whether to laugh or just roll her eyes. If Donnie were there, he definitely would’ve done the latter. “You really think it’s that easy?”

“I mean, it’s probably that easy,” the red-eared slider shrugged, “Like, two plus two, thirty divided by five, ten times ten-”

“Alright, math wiz-” Putting her pencil down, she turned her text book towards Leo and shoved a spare piece of paper at him. “Solve the first problem.”

Leo looked down, and his eyes widened. “...Iiiii mean, I WOULD! Tooootally would! But I uh can’t! Because, because asking someone to give you the answers is cheating and, clearly, as a ‘ninja hero’ I can’t just-”

“Oh it’s fine, I already solved that one,” April told him, still smirking as she waited patiently.

“O-Oh, great.” Leo was starting to sweat now. “Well then, just tell me what you got and I’ll-”

“Nuh uh, I know that trick. If you  _ really _ know the answer, Leon, show your work.” 

“Ughhh…” He picked up the pencil, brought the tip of it to the paper, and- “...I have no idea how to do this,” he finally admitted.

“I figured,” April laughed, letting Leo pout for a couple minutes before adding, “If it helps any, this is advanced calculus, something even I have trouble with, and I’ve been taking this class for almost a whole year now.”

“How did this stuff even work?!” Leo looked back at the book, tilting his head. “How the shell can ‘x’ and ‘e’ be numbers?! And if you have to solve for them, why couldn’t they just put ACTUAL numbers there?!”

“Dude, I have NO idea,” April said, sighing again as she shook her head. “All I know is that I can’t wait until I’m finally done with any and all math classes.”

“Mood,” Leo nodded, “And I’ve never even taken a math class before! Not really. Though, Dad did teach us some basic math stuff when we were kids, but…”

“I’ve always kinda wondered what school was like for you guys.” Deciding she deserved a break, April crossed her arms, placing them on the table and turning them into a makeshift pillow for her chin. “How long were you guys homeschooled?

“Only a couple years, I think.” The blue turtle leaned back, trying to remember. “We didn’t start until all of us were walking and talking and stuff. After that, Splinter started finding books so we could learn how to read, and old pencils and notebooks so we could learn how to write. Taught us some katakana and hiragana too, both reading and writing, and even a bit of kanji, though we still don’t know as much as him.”

Taking the paper that had been given to him, Leo began writing: **レオナルド** “Re… On… Na… Ru… Do. _Reonarudo_. Leonardo!”

“Ohhh, cool!” April grinned.

“Yep,” Leo agreed, clearly proud, “Anyway, after we learned the basic stuff, I think he tried to keep going with school but, it just kinda fell apart after a while. For one thing, Dad didn’t exactly keep track of all the things he learned in school. He said he forgot a lot of the more advanced math and science stuff. Knew lots of Japanese history but didn’t exactly know a ton of American  history, and there were only so many textbooks that showed up in junkyards in a readable condition.” He then chuckled slightly. “It didn’t exactly help that Donnie kept finding ways to learn on his own, and whenever he did ask Splinter a question, it just went way over his head. I think eventually he just figured that, if we knew how to read and write then we knew enough to get by, and anything else that we wanted to learn, we could just learn on our own.”

“Makes sense,” April nodded, “A lot of stuff you learn in school doesn’t really apply to day-to-day stuff. At best it’s interesting, but unless you’re goin’ into a specific field of study, most of it is just going to be forgotten until it randomly pops up in your life, like on a trivia night or something.”

“Man, human society makes no sense sometimes.” “Mood.” The two shared a laugh. “...Still, even with the pointless classes and harsh homework,” Leo began to say, “I kinda wish I still could’ve gone to school. Join clubs, do gym class, eat lunch in the cafeteria…” He started to grin. “Stand up to the popular kids, do some crazy end-of-the-year prank, start a school-wide musical number-”

“That last one definitely doesn’t happen,” April said flatly, “And you have seen ‘High School Musical’ wayyyy too many times.”

Leo scoffed. “Hey, it’s not my fault if Mikey and Donnie love it just as much as I do!” 

“Pretty sure Donnie only likes it ironically.” 

“ _ And  _ I’ll have you know that it is a classic!” 

“How would you know?! You were only, like, two when the first one came out and you only saw it for the first time four years ago!” 

“A  _ classic _ , April!”

April laughed, shaking her head. “You are _ ridiculous _ , Leon! But alright, fine, it’s a classic, and you guys can bounce basketballs and Bop to the Top to your heart’s content. But look, I don’t care if you guys want to get most of your high school info from movies and tv, but the least you can do is watch some of the actually good ones too. Stuff that’s a little more realistic, and shows how high school actually is.” She glanced away for a moment. “The good and bad… The fun parts, and the not-so-fun…”

Leo frowned. Reaching over, he put a gentle hand on her arm. “...I guess that’s one more reason to wish that we could be there with you. Help get rid of some of those not-so-fun moments... “

April gave a small smile. “Yeah… Definitely.” Sitting up, she stretched, not quite ready to get back to homework just yet. “Whatever, I’ve only got one more year anyway, then it’s off to college. I’ve heard that’s a lot better than high school, anyway. A lot more chill, a lot more ‘do your own thing’, not to mention less people caring about being popular and a lot more weirdos like me.”

“A  _ cool _ weirdo,” Leo corrected. April just gave him another smile.

“Right, right… I was actually kind of thinking of going into journalism. Maybe be an investigative reporter or something… Definitely more exciting than retail or some desk job.”

“Plus you’d get to be on tv!” Leo added, “Just picture it. Some giant explosion happens somewhere and boom! Ace Reporter O’Neil is already on the scene!”

“Heh, yeah, that does sound pretty cool,” April admitted. Finding interesting stories, doing interviews and always making sure that she was first on the scene when something exciting went down. And even if it didn’t go exactly like that, it would be something. A stable, hopefully permanent job that lasted for more than a few weeks. A future that involved not only a good paycheck, but happiness outside of mutant-related adventures too. “Yeah, really cool,” she smiled softly, “And hey, maybe I can find a junior internship or something before I start studying for it. It’ll help my last year of high school go by a bit more quickly, at least.”

“Yeah!” Leo paused. “...So is an internship like another type of school, or-?”

Just then, his cell phone began to ding. Quickly, he took it out. “Ooh, sounds like the guys found some kind of mutant shrimp near the new seafood place on 22nd.” He looked up, and smiled at his sister. “You in?”

April didn’t even hesitate. “Let’s get ‘em,” she grinned. School was school, but she had plenty of time left for both it and her future. But now? Now was the time to kick mutant butt with her family and best friends by her side. 

Dashing back over to the window and climbing out it with ease, the two of them practically flew down the fire escape, laughing and grinning all the while with thoughts of complex calculus problems and lonely school days now the farthest thing from their minds.


	25. Turtle-y Rat-ical Rat Dad

_ “Big money! Biiiig money!” “...” “Oooh, so close! Sorry! Better luck next time, ha!” _

“Man, game shows are kind of brutal sometimes, aren’t they?” Mikey commented.

“Totally,” Leo nodded, looking up from his phone, “And half the time the prizes aren’t even really worth it, and are pretty impossible to win anyway.” 

Splinter just smiled, not caring if his younger sons didn’t understand. “The passion people put into trying to win and the drama in whether they succeed or not is all part of the enjoyment - and the more entertaining, the better!”

“Hence why there are so many game shows about people either falling all over themselves to win cash or just flat out embarrassing themselves,” Donnie said dryly. 

“Do not look down on it so much, Purple,” Splinter lightly scolded, his tail twitching slightly, “Entertainment is entertainment!” And in a world that no longer made old-fashioned kung fu movies and relied far too heavily on computer-created fights rather than actual ones, Splinter was genuinely grateful for these ‘mini duels’ of man vs man or man vs fate (or, in the case of Scorpion Treadmill, man vs tiny beasts. Those were always the best). And perhaps his sons didn’t enjoy these duels as much as him, usually looking down at their phones or playing cards and only using the game shows as background noise, but Splinter enjoyed their company nonetheless. 

As the game show announced a commercial break, the rat felt his stomach grumble. “We still have those chips in the kitchen, yes?”

Raph paused his knitting - currently he was trying to decide whether to make a scarf or some kind of armless sweater - and glanced back at his father. “Which one, cheese or barbeque?”

“The cheese-covered ones, of course! What else is there to eat, Red?!”

Raph snickered. Right, of course. “Yeah, Pops, there should be one bag left.”

“Very good.” Taking a moment to stretch and brush his fur out a bit, Splinter hopped off his chair and headed towards the kitchen to satisfy his cheese-craving stomach.

Mikey hummed. “...Hey, do you guys ever wonder what life would be like if Dad wasn’t a rat?”

“Well, we wouldn’t need to get as much cheese-covered stuff, that’s for sure,” Donnie answered, earning another chuckle from his red and blue brothers. 

“I’m serious, Dee! I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love Dad just the way he is, but don’t you guys think it’s weird that he mutated into a rat instead of a turtle?”

“He could’ve mutated long before finding us, Mikey,” Leo pointed out. Exiting out of his game app, he set his phone down. “And even if he didn’t, rats are still pretty common here, so him being a rat isn’t that strange.”

“I guess,” the box-turtle shrugged, “Still, I kinda have to wonder what turtle he’d be if he did turn into a turtle.” His brothers looked at him, then looked up at the ceiling as they began to think. It was a pretty interesting question, after all. 

“Oh, I bet he’d be one of those big, ancient tortoises,” Raph said, getting a bit of a grin, “Like the ones we heard about in those old bedtime stories as kids, the ones who could take out anything ‘cause they were so strong and who were able to live forever!”

Leo smirked. “Well, the old part definitely fits.”

“Tc’ch, and you guys were talking about the game shows being harsh…” Raph then thought for a moment. “Wait, are turtles and tortoises the same thing? They’re pretty close, right?”

“Yep,” Donnie nodded, “The only real distinction between turtles and tortoises is that tortoises exclusively stay on land while most turtles spend a huge chunk of their life in water. There’s also small details like shell weight and size, national habitat and stuff like that.”

“So they’re practically like cousins!” Mikey added

“Huh, cool,” Raph said, giving a small smirk of his own, “Thanks, Donna-pedia.”

Donnie just rolled his eyes at the nickname. “I resent that, I’m much more useful than Wikipedia.”

“Anyway, if he had to be an actual turtle and not a tortoise, Pop would definitely be a snapper!” Raph could see it now, his father standing tall and strong with a sword at his side, looking as immovable as a sumo wrestler with a shell as sharp as samurai armor! “No doubt about it! Splinter may not do much fighting these days, but he’d still be a turtle that could bite back whenever he really wanted to!”

“Hmm, I guess I could see that,” Leo started to say, “Buuuuut, if we wanted to be REALLY accurate, Dad would totally be a slider.” He quickly imagined Splinter, still a few inches shorter than him but still standing confidently, doing flips in the air and striking his opponents down before they could even think about dodging! “Think about it, one of the things that make him such a great fighter is how fast he is, and a slider would be - and  _ is _ \- just as fast as a rat!” He grinned. “And just as cool too, let’s be real here, guys.”

While Raph just scowled at the cocky blue turtle, Donnie cut in. “I hate to disagree,” he said with a smile of his own, “Buuuut Splinter would totally be a softshell. If we’re going about this logically, Dad would be the turtle that most people underestimate.” He chuckled darkly. “ **Big** mistake. Softshells are cunning and durable despite our  _ *ahem* _ shells... plus we fight smart rather than hard. Normal softshells even use their environments to help them hunt! They’re practically nature’s ninja masters.”

“Aw, come on, Dee!” “Yeahhh no, I’d still say he would be a slider.” “You mean a snapper.” “No, I mean-!”

“Well I think Dad would be a box turtle!” Mikey chimed in, grinning as if he knew one hundred percent that he had the right answer.

“Oh yeah?” Raph asked, tucking his knitting needles in as he crossed his arms, “And why’s that?”

“Weeeell, couldn’t you just see Dad curled up in a cozy shell as he watched tv?”

Immediately imagining that, the other three couldn’t help but chuckle at it. “Okay yeah, that is a pretty accurate image,” Donnie admitted. 

“But you know,” Leo began to say, “as weird as it is that Dad’s different from us, I think it’d be even more weird if he was like us…” After all, turtles didn’t have fur. And while that’d probably mean that Splinter wouldn’t smell as bad as he sometimes did, there also wouldn’t be that extra bit of comfort and warm that would be there whenever he gave them a hug.

“It would a pretty stark difference,” Donnie agreed, furrowing his eyebrows a bit. He could remember how, no matter how quiet their cry was, their father would always -  _ always _ \- hear it and come in to check on them, his rat ears always open no matter how engrossed he was in something else. His sensitive sense of smell also saved them a few times when they were younger and still looking for a new home. But turtles didn’t really have either of those things.

“Tc’ch, yeah.” “No doubt about that…” Raph and Mikey both frowned a bit as they realized that a turtle Splinter wouldn’t have a tail either, most likely. Raph could still remember holding onto his dad’s tail as a sort of security blanket as he napped, just as strongly as Mikey could remember that same tail curling up around his tiny toddler body and tossing him up into the air as many times as he asked.

“...Welp, I guess we’re pretty lucky that Splinter did end up being a rat instead of a turtle then, huh?” Mikey said suddenly, deciding that a turtle Splinter was better off left in an imaginary what-if.

“Hmph, I’m glad you all think so too.”

Flinching slightly in realization, the boys turned to see the rat-man back in his chair, balancing four bowls of chips with his tail while his arm cradled the remaining chips in the bag. But Splinter just chuckled, his whiskers twitching a bit in amusement at his sons’ sheepish faces. “Guess rats are better at sneaking around too,” Donnie mumbled.

“Being a rat certainly wasn’t my first choice,” he told them as his extra limb passed out the bowls, “and it took a long time to get used to… but I think it worked out in the end.”

“Heh, yeah,” Mikey smiled, taking his chips just as the game show returned and his dad’s eyes were brought back to the screen, “We can definitely agree on that.”


	26. Cereal and Selfies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of updates! Between the rush and the slight depression of the holidays and getting walking pneumonia, I wasn't in the mood to write for the longest time - and, once I was in the mood to write, the ideas I had were more suited for the oneshots that I posted rather than drabbles. BUT hopefully updates will be more consistent, what with all the new episodes that we're gonna be getting, which hopefully means plenty of material to be inspired by ^v^ Anyway, enjoy!

“...Donnie? Dooooonnie.”

“Bro? You alright?”

“I think he fell asleep again.”

“‘M not asleep,” Donnie mumbled, rubbing his still closed eyes, “I’m just… resting.”

Raph crossed his arms. “Another late night project?” he asked, his tone a mixture of amused and his classic ‘big brother’ voice.

“Yessss,” Donnie grumbled, “But I finished it last night, and I’m planning on taking a nap later after I run a couple tests on it, so don’t give me that look.”

“How d’you know I’m givin’ you a look?”

“Because you ALWAYS give me a look when I pull all nighters,” Donnie sighed, finally reopening his eyes. He knew Raph was just looking out for him, and honestly if it weren’t for the concern from his families, he probably would try to pull all nighters all the time. “I’ll be fine, I’m just-”

“Exhausted?” Leo finished, earning a glare from the softshell.

“I’ll make you some extra strength coffee, kay Dee?” Mikey offered.

“Yeah, sounds great, thanks Mikey…” The youngest turtle smiled, knowing that the act was appreciated even if Donnie was too tired too properly express it. So, already having plenty of energy from eating his own breakfast earlier, Mikey got to work while Raph joined his brothers on the floor at the small table. Raph was already on his second serving of bacon and waffles while Leo was satisfied with cereal and bananas.

The atmosphere was peaceful, with conversation being looked over in favor of comfortable silence, leaving only the scraping of various kitchen utensils, the sounds of chewing and Mikey’s occasional beatboxing as he cooked as the only noise. It was relaxing… Almost too relaxing.

Closing his eyes once more, Donnie let himself go limp for just a moment, his head landing on Raph’s shoulder.

“Hm?” Raph blinked, nearly dropping the bit of bacon he had just bit down on. “Hey.”

“Huh, wha?” Donnie sat himself back up. “Oh, sorry…”

“Don, is coffee even gonna help you when you’re this tired?” Raph asked, making another ‘face’, much to the softshell’s annoyance.

“Yes, Raphael, it will,” Donnie said, his words as sharp as his scowl, “I’m just, just still in the process of waking up, is all! Perfectly natural when it’s this early!”

“It’s like 9:30, dude,” Leo spoke up, “It’s not THAT earl- ow! Don’t elbow me!”

Raph sighed. “Whatever. Does anyone care if I take the last of the bacon?” No one protested, so Raph stood up once more.

The aroma of coffee was beginning to fill the air, though rather than perking him up, Donnie began to instead feel more relaxed than ever. He could already imagine the warmth of the cup in his hands, the hot bittersweet liquid running down his throat and spreading through his entire body- ugh, it was practically _heavenly_. Yes, the added energy that came from it was a nice perk, but he did genuinely like the taste of coffee too. Drinking it was like curling up in a heated bed on a cold day. Like watching the sunset and enjoying that peace before jumping into the thrilling action of the night. It just felt like home…

As his mind became clouded with warm and cozy thoughts, Donnie once again found himself going limp, putting his twin in the same predicament as their older brother was just a few moments ago.

Leo scoffed. Great, he thought to himself, first he hits me, then he makes me his pillow? Unbelievable. ...Still, he wasn’t THAT heartless. Even if it was Donnie’s own actions that made him so tired, Leon knew that it was hard for Donnie to turn off his mind and just go to sleep sometimes, especially when he was hyperfocused on a new idea. So, letting his twin lean on him while he ‘rested’ wasn’t TOO big of a deal, Leo supposed.

...Besides, it did give him the perfect opportunity for a little something. Grinning, Leo pulled out his phone. April would be heading into her second period soon, and he knew this would be the perfect pick-me-up for what was surely an already boring day of school for their friend. So, opening his camera app, he raised his phone and tried to get the perfect selfie angle.

Unfortunately, the more he moved, the less shoulder the still sleepy Donnie had to lean on. “Okay,” Leo mumbled, finally finding a good angle, “Aaaand click-!”

He could feel Donnie slipping off him just as the camera flash went off, causing his twin to open his eyes. However, instead of waking him up, it plus the free-fall only disoriented him even more, too disoriented to properly stop himself. As for Leo, despite his normal speed, he was so caught off guard that he too was unable to react in time, and could only watch as Donnie fell face first into his half eaten bowl of cereal.

Immediately, Donnie let out an indignant screech, sitting up and gasping as milk ran down his face. From the doorway of the kitchen, both Mikey (who had just poured Donnie’s coffee and had missed the whole thing) and Raph (who had been too far away to stop it) could only gape in shock. And Leo…

“... _*snrk*_...”

Donnie glared at him, clenching his fists tightly.

“O-Okay, I know what you’re thinking,” Leon began, still trying to hide his giggles, though clearly not succeeding in hiding the huge grin he had, “But, but I SWEAR that was an accident.”

“Leonardo…” Donnie growled, baring his teeth.

“I’m sorry, okay! Really!” Thinking it would help, Leo offered him a napkin. “It’s fine, we’re all fine! And, hey, I bet you’re wide awake now, right?”

There was a moment of heavy silence.

“...Welp, he’s dead,” Mikey said simply.

***********

“Ugh, I can’t believe I forgot we had a quiz today,” April mumbled. She dug through her backpack, hoping to find enough notes to get her through a quick before-the-bell study session. At least if worse came to worse, quizzes were only 25% of her grade, and she had already aced the last two. Still, failing a quiz wasn’t exactly a good thing…

Just as she was pulling out her notebook, her phone went off - not once, but twice. Curious, she took it out and saw that she had two photos texted to her. The first came with a message, practically a plea to take his side.

 **Sent 9:34 AM. Leon Neon:** **_just for context I swear it was an accident and don’t let ANYONE tell you otherwise!!_ **

Above this text was a picture of Leo, wide eyed as a blurry Donnie next to him was falling forward into- “...Oh boy,” April giggled. While she could easily guess what might have happened, she was looking forward to hearing the story later.

Knowing she didn’t have much time before her next class, she moved onto the next text - and if she wasn’t laughing before, she was certainly laughing now.

The photo was of Leon, looking VERY grumpy as a bowl sat on his head, milk drenching his bright blue mask while bits of cereal stuck to his face. In the background, a very pleased Donnie sat sipping from his mug of coffee, eyes shut with a simple smile on his face.

Naturally, there was only one word to describe it:

 **Sent 9:34 AM. Donnie:** **_Revenge._ **


	27. Match-up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reference/mild spoilers to 'The Evil League of Mutants' in this one. Enjoy!

“Okay, Lou Jitsu VS Jupiter Jim - ah ah, WITH assistance from Atomic Lass!”

“A Two v. One fight, huh?” Leo hummed, leaning back as he crossed his legs. He could understand why someone as bouncy and springing as Mikey would prefer a hammock to sleep in over a bed, but it was still hard to get comfy in it. For a split second, the slider nearly fell right out of it, though was able to place a hand on the wall nearest to him and regain his balance just in time. “Eh, it’s not like Lou Jitsu hasn’t been outnumbered before.”

“I know,” Mikey nodded, eyes still glued to the space on his bedroom wall, “But those were just against grunts. Of course he was gonna take ‘em out! But Jupiter Jim actually knows how to fight, plus he’s got all those sweet gadgets on ‘im! Plus, Atomic Lass can help with long range attacks and try to knock Lou off his game!” With that, he started sorting through his spraypaint cans, looking for the perfect color.

Honestly it was a wonder he had any blank space left in his room at all, but he did. About two feet wide and four feet tall, right between a tag he made a couple of years ago and a mural that, while not as impressive given that he painted it when he was seven, was still too sentimental to just paint over. Still, if anyone could turn a small section of wall into a masterpiece, it was Michelangelo.

Though, if he had been looking back at his brother, he would’ve seen the proud smile on the slider’s face. Mikey had always been a natural when it came to acrobatics and fighting, having a very ‘go with the flow’ style that meshed incredibly well with with the Lou Jitsu style of using your surroundings and turning whatever you could get your hands on into a weapon if just your hands weren’t enough. Unfortunately, being great at fighting in the moment often meant that he was a bit weaker at actually planning attacks and accounting for variables, often looking to his brothers for a new plan when things went wrong and sometimes needing to be told what to do in order to make his next move. So, to hear his younger brother actually thinking about advantages and strategies somewhat definitely brought a smile to Leo’s face.

“So,” Mikey spoke up again, pulling his blue brother out of his thoughts, “Do you think they could beat him?”

“Nah,” Leo shook his head, “Lou knows his way around a fist fight, even with people as skilled as he - or Jim - is. As long as there was no outside interference, he could easily outlast Jim, and probably figure out how to wreck most of his gadgets too.”

Mikey hummed, considering this. “And Atomic Lass?”

“Once he figured out what all her powers were, he could find a way to work around them. Find a way to take away or fight against her hammer, and that solves half your problems right there. He’s also fast enough to dodge her nuclear blasts, and once he knows how to counteract her powers, he could easily own her in a physical fight.”

“Huh, yeah, that makes sense.” Settling on a golden-orange, Mikey began spraying. “Okay, Lou Jitsu VS the Moon-Cyborhs from the 8th Last Trip to the Moon!”

The slider rolled his eyes. “Seriously, dude? No matter what weapons they’ve got, cyborgs are just like high tech mummies or zombies or any other group of grunts. Lou could wipe the floor with them, no problem - and he wouldn’t even need Jupiter Jim’s laser blaster!”

“Alright, smart guy,” Mikey retorted, giving his brother a playful scowl, “Lou Jitsu VS… Big Mama!”

“Oh, so we’re getting into real life match-ups, huh?” Leo had to think a bit on that one, since they’d only met once, so she probably had some abilities that they didn’t know about. But, judging on what they knew- “I think he could take her. Yeah she’s really big and strong and she’s got those suuuuper gross webs, but he’s fast enough to dodge those. I could see her him jumping on top of her and trying to block a few of her eyes, slowing her down and giving him a chance to throw her into her desk or something.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Mikey nodded, “I could totally see him doing that. And with someone like Meatsweats, he could just grab his tenderizing hammer and use it against him!”

“Or trick him into taking the powers of a weak mutant,” Leo smirked.

“Or pretend to be a mutant to get Meatsweats to grab him, so he can get in close, and then POW!”

“Order up! Anyone ask for beaten porkchops with a side of hot soup?” Leo shouted, causing the two of them to fall into a fit of laughter.

Settling down a bit, Mikey turned back to his project, spraying a few lines of color. He looked at it for a moment before adding a few more spots. He then picked up a darker color for some shading. “Yeah, Meatsweats wouldn’t stand a chance. ...Though, Hypno would be a bit harder to beat. Lou doesn’t really have anything to block out his hypnotizing yells.”

“Right… Which means he’d have to knock him out before he could get the chance to hypnotize him, and would have to figure out how to get around his magic tricks,” Leo nodded, “Which itself would be sort of… _tricky_.”

“Booooo.”

“I regret nothing. Anyway, the doves and rabbits probably wouldn’t be too big of a problem, it’s those rings that he’d really have to look out for…” He cringed slightly, lightly touching his neck and remembering the razor sharp ring that he had just barely managed to dodge a couple weeks ago. “Those things are killer… But if anyone could get around them, it’s Lou Jitsu. After that it’d just take a good hit to the face, and boom! Game, set and match!” After a moment , Leo added, “Do you think we’re too biased in this?”

“Nahhh,” Mikey shook his head as he continued painting, “Okay, Lou Jitsu VS those crab guys! They were crazy strong, plus they had a long distance attack!”

“Yeah, buuuut if he could turn their attacks against each other, he’d have them knocked out in a second!”

“Lou Jitsu VS that minotaur lady from that maze you made us go through!”

Leo gave him a flat look. “You could’ve just said ‘that one maze’ but fine, that would be a pretty hard fight. Fighting against killer vines AND a fire breathing minotaur, plus being in an environment that’s always changing? It’d be tough, but I think Lou could pull off a win. Use the vines as weapons and tools, and find a way to either knock out or tie up the minotaur, which would be easy once the playing field was even a bit, since I don’t think very many pizza chef/restaurant assistant managers are also skilled fist fighters.”

“Alright, uhh, umm-!”

“Face it, bro!” Leo insisted, “Lou Jitsu’s just too awesome! No matter what the fight, he always finds a way out!” Whether it was just in the movies or not, it was just too hard to believe that a guy that strong and skilled and just plain **legendary** could ever actually  _lose_ , no matter who he was up against.

And Mikey must’ve agreed, because all he could say to that was, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” His voice was quiet now, and for a moment, Leo wondered if he had made him upset, making most of their theoretical battles so one-sided. He opened his mouth to ask, and-

“What about… Lou Jitsu VS us?”

Leo didn’t say anything. Instead, he sat up, and offered Mikey a small smile. “...Yeah, no. Mikey, we’re an awesome team but, we’re still just noobs compared to a master like him. We wouldn’t stand a chance at beating Lou Jitsu.”

“Heh, yeah, I know,” Mikey agreed. He smiled back at his brother, though it didn’t quite meet his eyes. “...I still wish we could fight him though, even if it was just a quick, dumb spar or something…”

“...Yeah, I get what you mean,” Leo said, holding back a sigh. Ever since the very first scene they saw from one of his movies - the very thing that had inspired them to want to become ninjas in the first place - all of them had wanted to meet the great and legendary Lou Jitsu. And now, thanks to certain revelations, well… Now that desire was stronger than ever.

It was pretty awesome, having one of your dads be a celebrity. But it was also bittersweet, especially when Wikipedia could only offer an incomplete history and various conspiracy theories around the web did very little to help.

“...Do you think that was his final fight? Him VS Draxum?” Mikey asked, still facing the wall despite not making a move to continue his art, “And that… that it was the one fight he lost?”

Leo could only give a shrug. “Maybe…” If he was being honest, his late father losing a fight still was a better ending than the alternative. That he simply gave them up and went into hiding, leaving them to be found by their rat dad. “But, hey… No matter what happened in it, you can bet he fought his hardest - and awesomest - during it. Just like he always does.” Just like they always did.

“...Yeah. I think you’re right,” Mikey nodded, another small smile making his way onto his face.

“...That’s really pretty, by the way,” Leo commented, looking back up at the wall.

“Heh, I know, right? Can’t believe someone would just throw this color out. But just wait until it’s done, then it’s really gonna look like something great!”

So, Leo laid back down on the hammock, and watched his younger brother paint his latest masterpiece.

Fights were a thrill. They were energizing and satisfying, but there was plenty of satisfaction to be found in moments of peace too.


	28. Snapping Speech

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This drabble was inspired by both a conversation I had with my friend and the writing of WerepireChick, who's written quite a few stories about the TMNT boys and certain things they're able to do thanks to the turtle part of their biology (something I'd love to see in canon). Anyway, enjoy!

“Man, what is WITH these guys and disappearing through portals?!” Leo groaned, slouching.

Donnie glanced around the small room, briefly wondering if they should clean up all the shredded ninja-bits before deciding not to bother. “You can’t deny that it’s an effective way of escaping, Leon. I mean, YOU use portals sometimes.”

“Well yeah but, I would at least say a cool one-liner or something before bailing, instead of just ‘mysteriously disappearing’ as soon as the guys I’m fighting look up. It’s like, we get it, you guys are mystical or whatevs, it’s not THAT impressive.”

“Soooo, does anyone know WHY they were here?” Mikey spoke up. The twins could only offer a shrug.

They had all been playing basketball in the park when Donnie’s security camera app picked up on some suspicious activity near the Bronx zoo. Dashing over to the scene of the potential crime and hopping the fence had been easy, as was finding the ‘suspicious activity’. Flame heads weren’t exactly ideal for stealth missions, after all.

The big foot-faced guy had been playing lookout while his skinny partner had been inside the World of Reptiles building doing who knows what. Foot Brute put up a good fight, but even a soldier as strong as him couldn’t win a four against one fight. Unfortunately, as soon as they had made it through into the reptile room, they were bombarded with Origami Ninjas, their blank faces illuminated by the pink portal behind them.

“I don’t see any damaged property,” Donnie observed. He pulled down his goggles. No mystical activity either. None of the closed tanks had been smashed, and there weren’t any slain innocent animals (thank goodness). In fact, other than the shredded paper that now littered the floor, there wasn’t really any damage to the area at all.  

“What would they want with any of these cute little guys anyway?” Mikey asked. His eyes were on an adorable spotted tree-frog, smiling as it stuck its tongue out at him. “Aren’t they usually after armor and artifacts and stuff?”

“Well, maybe there was something hidden here that they needed?” Leo shrugged, “Like some lizard’s climbing rock was some sort of… magical climbing roc- okay you know what, I’ve got nothing.” Which definitely frustrated the slider to no end. Raph may have been the leader, but Leo had fallen happily into his own role as the plan guy whenever Raph couldn’t think of one. The guy who actually tried to think ahead and not just in the moment, the guy who noticed the small details like-

...Like the growling his oldest brother was doing.

Leon blinked. “Uhh, Raph?” he asked, looking at the back of his brother’s spiky shell, “You okay, buddy?”

Raph, who had been leaning over into one of the open exhibits, glanced over his shoulder. “Yeah, I’m good, why?

“Well then, you wanna actually help us figure out why those foot-faced guys were here? I mean, you’re the only one who’s-”

“What do you think I’m doin?” Raph asked, scowling a bit before turning back to the tank, his growling and grunting starting up again. Curious (and a bit weirded out), the trio of younger brothers walked over to the tank.

It was a fairly spacious one, which made sense given its resident: A single, fairly good-sized snapping turtle. It growled back at them, adding a couple hisses for good measure as it began to crawl backwards. Raph growled louder, though somehow the tone was still gentle and non-threatening. (Nothing less from their softie of a big brother.) The snapper stared back at them, staying alert for just a moment longer before relaxing.

“...Wait so,” Donnie began to say, “Are… Are you actually talking to it?!”

“Her,” Raph corrected, “And yeah, what else would I be doing? She’s been freakin’ out ever since we ran in here.” Not like he could blame her, most animals (and people for that matter) would’ve freaked if they had just been minding their own business and then had a fight break out in their home. “You guys seriously didn’t hear it?”

“I mean, we were kinda busy with the whole fighting living origami thing,” Leon replied, “But even with we weren’t, I don’t think we would’ve even noticed her, it literally just sounds like growling. ...Or like the gurgling of a rusty old pipe.”

“This is SO COOL, Raph!” Mikey grinned, gripping the short glass wall that surrounded the tank, “You can totally speak Turtle-ese! Ooh, let me try!” Grinning widely, Mikey began to growl at the snapper, trying a variety of different pitches and tones that made him sound like he had a chunk of pizza crust stuck in his throat. “Did any of that get through?”

“Uhhh, I don’t think so,” Raph shook his head, “I didn’t understand any of it.” The snapper gave another hiss, making Mikey pout in disappointment. “Sorry, buddy. I think it’s only a thing I can do.”

“So, you had trouble learning Japanese and not mixing up your words when we were little, but you can just speak turtle without even trying?” Leo asked, “Okay, I will admit, that is pretty cool-” And he might have been just a tiny bit jealous because, come on, who wouldn’t want to be able to talk to animals? “-but how is it possible? And why can’t the rest of us do that?”

“Well,” Donnie began before Raph could even open his mouth, “This is just a hypothesis but, Raph IS older than us. We don’t know when Draxum mutated us, so it’s possible that Raph spent one or two years of his life as a normal turtle and could be retaining some of that natural instinct even after being mutated!” The softshell paused. “Although, further research would be needed to confirm this…”

“Ohhhh no. Don, I know that look, you are NOT experimentin’ on me!” Raph glared.

Donnie put his hands up in defense. “Hey, I’d be experimenting WITH you, not ON you! There’s a difference! And I assure you, it would be very non-invasive! I’d just need a few audio samples from you!” With a mumble, he added under his breath “Among other small things…”

Raph narrowed his eyes, and in response Donnie brought out his ‘innocent younger brother’ eyes. They weren’t quite as effective as Mikey’s, and Raph knew for a fact that Donnie was nowhere near innocent, but even so... “...Would you need any blood samples?”

“Nope! X-Rays of your vocal chords and brain scans would be sufficient enough!”

The mutated snapper stared at him for a long moment before finally sighing. “...Fine. But the moment you get out any needles, I’m outta there!”

Donnie grinned. “Have I ever told you that you’re my favorite older brother?”

“I’m your only older brother, Dee.”

“It’s still valid.”

“And hey, even if it’s all cause of biology, maybe you could still try to teach us some of that sweet turtle-speak!” Mikey added. Raph’s expression softened a bit at the idea. He didn’t consider himself much of a teacher when it came to things that weren’t fighting, but if it made his bros happy, maybe he could give it a shot.

“So, did your new friend over there know why the Foot guys were here?” Leo asked, bringing them all back to the task at hand.

“Oh! Yeah!” He turned back to the snapper, giving her a grateful smile. The snapper slowly blinked back at him. “She didn’t know why they were here, but she did see what they took - the blue iguana!” Raph pointed at another tank, this one a bit smaller and closed off but still full of foliage and a fair amount of hiding spots. The glass around the tank wasn’t broken, nor was the lock on it, indicating that the Foot Lieutenant must’ve used one of his portals to reach in and grab the innocent iguana.

“But what would they want with an iguana?” Donnie asked, “This is weird, even for them.”

“Dunno,” Raph shrugged. Frankly, all the snapper had cared about was that they weren’t coming after her, and was too busy trying to threaten them with her warnings to listen in on any possible conversations. But, that could hardly discourage Raph. “We’ll have to ask them later,” he grinned, cracking his knuckles, “After we finish kickin’ their butts! Come on, boys! We’ve got some flame heads to track down!”

Having no arguments with that, the turtles began to leave, ready to run out of the zoo and onto the next step of their mission. But before he could even get close to the exit, Raph stopped himself and turned back, letting out another long growl. The snapper growled back, lowering her head before crawling away, needing some rest after such a strange night.

Looking back at his bros, Raph could see them staring. “Just thanking her for helpin’ us,” he translated, “Oh, and congrats on the eggs she just laid a few days ago.”

“So cool~” Mikey said with stars in his eyes while the twins smirked.

“Okay, NOW let’s go fight those foot-faces and get that iguana back home!” Raph ordered.

His brothers grinned, nodding back at him. “We may not to be able to speak turtle,” Leo said, just as confident as ever, “But fighting evil, reptile-stealing weirdos? That much we can do~” And with that, the team raced out of the reptile house and into the night - with the oldest member of their team feeling more confident in his ‘turtle power’ than ever before!


	29. Fighting the Frights

Mikey took a deep breath. In and out… In… and out.

“You can do this,” he told himself, “You are a ninja… A ninja with mad skills! A hero who is most definitely NOT a baby anymore!” Certainly not after battling several mutants alongside his brothers, not to mention that foot recruit girl that he fought by himself! “You. Can. Do this!” The box turtle took one deep breath before hopping off his hammock and heading towards the tv room.

He could already hear his brothers talking among themselves as they settled in. “-And the special effects are SO cheesy. Well, that’s according to April, but she’s usually a good judge of these types of flicks.”

“Considering the type of movie it is, that’s not surprising. You know how April likes her bad horror movies. Though, I’m more concerned about the plot. I mean, a haunted board game? Seriously?!”

“Heh, ooooh~ Better not roll snake-eyes or you’ll be dragged to the underworrrrrld~! Tc’ch, laaaame!” 

“Heh, I hear that!” Mikey spoke up, putting on his most confident grin. His brothers quickly turned their attention towards him, their amusement turning to mild concern.

“Oh uh, hey Mike,” Raph greeted, “Did you need somethin’ or-?”

“Nope! Just thought I’d join you guys!”

Donnie raised an eyebrow. “You want to join us… To watch a horror movie? A horror movie about  _ ghosts? _ ”

“Yyyyep!” Mikey nodded. His grin was becoming a bit more forced now, but he kept it strong. “It’s not like ghosts are real, right Leon? Remember?”

“Yeah, I remember…” Just like he remembered just how freaked out Mikey had been at just the idea of the Gumbus. “But-”

“And that movie is PG-13, right?” Mikey asked, “Hence, a totally  _ mature _ and _ unafraid _ thirteen year old like me should TOTALLY be able to handle some dumb horror movie right? So come on, let’s watch it already!”

His brothers shared another look, one that finally brought his own smile down. “You guys don’t have to worry about me, I’ll be fine!” Mikey insisted, getting annoyed now.

“But Mikey, we-” Raph paused. He knew that as much as Mikey appreciated having his siblings comfort and supportive, he also hated being treated like ‘the baby’. And that was fair, he was just as strong and brave as the rest of them, even when he was scared. Plus, it wasn’t as if they all didn’t have their own fears and phobias, so it wasn’t even an age thing! ...But even so- “You know you don’t have to prove yourself to us, right Mikey? You… You know we don’t, like, look down on you or anything for bein’- er, for not likin’ movies like this, right?”

Mikey was silent, fists clenched at his sides. He was looking down at the stone floor, keeping his gaze there when he finally replied with, “Who said I’m tryin’ to prove anything to  _ you guys _ ?”

And in that moment, everything became clear. The three older turtles’ expressions softened, not with pity or concern, but with pride. “...Okay, Mike,” Raph nodded, “Pull up a beanbag or pillow or whatever you can find. Stay as long as you want.”

Mikey nodded back, a silent thank you. He took a seat right in between the twins and just in front of Raph - a familiar, safe and comfortable spot, as well as a good position to be in while you were in the middle of facing your fears. Surrounded by family… That was how he usually went into battle, right? He would be fine… He would be fine.

“Heh, don’t be surprised if you start falling asleep during this,” Leon said with a nudge as the DVD loaded, hoping to lighten the mood once more, “I’m sure it’ll be a total snorefest.”

“That or it’ll be an epic, comedic fail to try and capture anything resembling the horror genre,” Donnie added, “As if some CGI ghost could even come anywhere NEAR scary!”

“Yeah, plus didn’t April say the acting was really bad in this too?” Raph smirked, “Now that’s the real horror of most of these movies!”

Mikey chuckled. “Yeah, I’m sure you guys are right. This movie’s gonna be-” His voice cracked a bit, his body jumping as the menu suddenly popped up, showing a graphic of a pair of dice splattered with blood and accompanied by a sudden dramatic musical chord and loud shriek. “G-Gonna be so, SO dumb! Heh…” His brothers all moved a bit closer to him, but didn’t say a word as Raph took the remote and started the movie.

Mikey breathed. In and out. In… and out…

He could do this. 

And he did do it. It might have included a few more jumps and screams, and it might have taken a couple instances of pausing the movie during a few of the more intense possession and murder scenes, as well as a lot of comments and jokes to remind him that he wasn’t alone in his own personal mission.

It was rough, but he didn’t run. He fought hard and bravely even through his small shrieks and shivers, eventually making it all the way to the credits (though he did allow himself to close his eyes at the final jumpscare).

“...H-Heh, yeah, that wasn’t so bad,” Mikey said after a few seconds, his shoulders and fists finally relaxing a bit, “Man, April was right… Those special effects were super cheap.” Admittedly freaky, and sometimes effective with the right atmosphere and mindset, but still cheap as heck. He gave another small laugh, hugging his slightly shivering arms. “So dumb…” 

“Tc’ch, no doubt,” Raph nodded, “Not to mention she totally called the bad acting. I’ve got a headache after all the screamin’ that one girl did…” After a small moment of silence, he spoke up again. “Anyone wanna raid the fridge for leftovers and late night desserts?” Mikey perked up a bit at that.

“I dunno… Would that include a Jupiter Jim movie to watch as we snack?” Leo asked.

“Perhaps a Lou Jitsu classic afterwards, followed by naturally crashing in the living room afterwards in typical ‘teens staying up way past their usual bedtime’ fashion?” Donnie added, smiling alongside his bros.

Already feeling the disturbing memories from the ghostly flick begin to fade, with a good chance of being gone completely by the time they all finally went to sleep, Mikey could only smile back at his brothers as he pulled them in for a tight, appreciative hug.

“Sounds perfect to me.”


	30. Tea For Two

A small tap on his shoulder and the light touch of paper falling onto his stomach caused Splinter to open his eyes, waking him from his brief ‘power nap’. With a yawn, he picked up the paper, eyes squinting slightly as he read it:

YOU ARE iNViTED TO A TEA PARTY!!! cOME TO MiKEYS ROOM iN 10 MiNUTES! PS: PLEASE BRiNG TEA!!!

Splinter smirked. His youngest was getting quite good at his penmanship, even if he still insisted on writing mostly in capital letters. Ear twitching, he could hear his seven year old giggling from the pipe that lead to the main part of their home. The rat hummed. “It looks like I will be attending a tea party this afternoon.” A just-barely quiet voice cheered before running off. Splinter chuckled, and folded the invite up before standing from his chair. After all, he only had ten minutes to prepare. So, he grabbed his favorite metal teapot from the ‘Do Not Touch’ cabinet and headed into the kitchen.

Figuring that his son was already providing the snacks, Splinter went straight to the cabinet where they usually put the tea, whenever they had some around. Spotting it quickly, he grabbed two packages of the green tea, along with a couple small bowls with hairline cracks in them and a couple spoons. Maybe it wouldn’t be entirely accurate, but it would be enough. The water took a while to boil, so as soon as it finished, Splinter took it as well as the bowls and tea balanced in his arms, and headed towards the bedroom of his two youngest sons.  

Despite not having a ton to work with, Mikey had still put together a pretty nice set-up, most likely based on the tea parties he had seen on tv. He had gathered several pillows to be used as seats, placing Raph’s teddy bear, Cheech, as well as Donnie’s Atomic Lass doll, a Lou Jitsu action figure, and his own ‘pet rock’ on a few of them. And in the center of it all, Splinter could see a plate filled with slightly crumbly cookies as well as candy bars that had been carefully broken up into bite-sized pieces.

“Hi, Pop!” Mikey waved, giving a huge grin. The boy was wearing the scarf and gloves his father had gotten him last winter, obviously wanting to ‘dress up’ a bit for the occasion. Splinter nodded, though was stopped before he could take a seat. “Lemme make sure you’re on the list.” Mikey grabbed a paper that was mostly filled with crayon doodles and only a few names, and put on a serious face as he read through them. “Hmmm… Yep! You’re on here!” He then put on a ‘fancy’ accent that he had heard Donnie use occasionally, ever since the night they snuck into some theatre show. “Please take a seat, my good sir!”

Splinter chuckled again as he took a seat. He didn’t always understand his youngest, but he certainly was adorable. “Thank you, my son.” Eager to relieve the weight in his arms, he quickly set down the bowls and spoons, making sure to put the still-hot tea pot near him.

Mikey tilted his head, curious. “Uhh, Papa? You know we don’t have cereal at tea parties, right?”

“Yes, I know. But, where I come from, we make our own tea at our tea parties. It’s, ah, a bit of a tradition. So much so that tourists - people on vacation - will go out of their way just to attend one of our tea parties.”

“ _Ooooh._ ” Mikey crouched down to get a closer look at the supplies his father had brought, even more fascinated by them now.

“So, would you like to try-?” “YES!” “Okay okay, settle down.” Bouncing a bit in his seat now, Mikey watched with wide eyes as Splinter began the process. His rat dad took one of the packages of tea that he had brought and opened it with his claws, pouring the bag’s contents right into the small bowl.

“Now for the water…” He poured just a little in the bowl, filling it up only halfway. “We don’t want to fill it completely, otherwise it’ll just spill all over, and no one wants to spend a party cleaning up.” Mikey shook his head in agreement. “Now, we carefully - but quickly - mix it all together.” A whisk really did work better for this, but a spoon would have to do. Furrowing his furry brows a bit, Splinter worked as fast as he could, his spoon blurring as it went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth-! Mikey leaned back a bit now, blinking a couple times.

Quickly, the water turned a bright green, like the grass they’d see at Central Park, or like the sewer scum they’d sometimes see floating along in the water underneath their home. Still, as simple as it was, to Mikey it almost seemed like magic.

When his father was finally finished, he slowly lifted the cup, and bowed to his son. “Now you bow to me, and then take the cup.” Mikey did as he was told, sticking his pinkies out as he took a long sip from his drink (after blowing on it a couple times, of course).

“Mmmmm, that’s so GOOD, Pop!”

“Heh, thank you, Orange One,” Splinter nodded, “Now, would you like to make some tea for me?” An unnecessary question, of course. He already knew the answer.

Using his teeth, Mikey opened the tea bag and poured it into the second bowl. With his dad’s help, he was able to pour the water in, and as Mikey mixed it all up as fast as he could, Splinter helped himself to a couple of the snacks.

“Okay! It’s all mixed up!” Mikey announced when he finally took his spoon out of the bowl, causing a few drops to spill onto the stone floor. Lifting it carefully so he didn’t spill any more of it, Mikey picked up the bowl and bowed to his father.

With a proud smile, Splinter bowed back and took the bowl. “Pinkies out, Papa!” Mikey reminded him.

“I know, I know,” he nodded, even if he didn’t quite understand the need for it. But, if pinkies out made his son happy, so be it. He took a long sip from his bowl, his ears flattening as the calming liquid traveled down his throat. “Very excellent tea, Orange.”

“Thanks!” Mikey chirped, picking his own bowl back up, “Cheers!”

“Heh, cheers, little one.”

The rest of their little tea party ran smoothly, with Mikey explaining what their other ‘guests’ were up to while his father listened. Apparently Cheech wanted to try and make a movie with Lou Jitsu (who wanted to open up a soup restaurant so he could be in the commercials for it), but Atomic Lass and Rocky were going to try and mess up his audition so they could be in the movie instead.

‘Such an imagination on this one,’ Splinter thought to himself. He raised an eyebrow as he watched Mikey tip a piece of Snickers bar into the remainder of his tea, eating it in one satisfied bite. ‘And interesting tastes too…’ Still, Splinter didn’t say a word, instead choosing to simply sit back and enjoy their little not-quite-traditional tea party.

Who needed traditions, anyway?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually went to a tea ceremony while I was studying abroad. I admittedly don't care much for tea (I just don't like hot drinks, in general), but it was still really interesting and neat to watch, and the idea of Splinter and Mikey having their own little version of it just seemed like a fun idea to me ^v^ I'd like to think that Splinter taught his boys a little bit about his culture outside of old kung fu movies, heh


	31. You're Gonna Hear Me Roar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on that one bit from 'Late Fee'. The fact that Raph still cares about his ex-wrestling idol and hates the fact that he's actually a huge jerk so much that it makes him cry makes me sad. So, here's a drabble all about him moving past that grief, with a little help of course. Enjoy!

“He’s gonna do it!” “He’s not gonna do it.” “He’s gonna do it!” “Dude, he’s so not gonna-!” Leo squeaked as he was pulled into a headlock, silencing him for at least a few moments, enough for Raph to enjoy the end of the fight without interruption.

Leon could easily say that he was more of a basketball guy, or even a baseball guy, than he was a wrestling guy. Yet, more often than not, he’d end up getting dragged into watching it thanks to one or more of his brothers. He’d also usually end up pinned under someone or stuck next to a smelly armpit for a short while, thanks to his big mouth and sass that could rival his twin’s at times. Still, even with Raph’s armpit stink, Leo decided that it wasn’t the worst way to spend an otherwise uneventful Wednesday night.

Raph on the other hand had his eyes glued to the screen, a toothy grin on his face. In a stunning display, the parrot themed wrestler, Flying Fury, did his trademark double bounce from the ropes around the ring. The first bounce to gain some height and momentum, and the second to launch him into body slamming his opponent, finally knocking them out.

“Ha! I TOLD ya he was gonna do it! This guy never finishes a match without his signature move!” Raph said as he let his younger brother go.

Leo took a moment to breathe some non-sweaty air before snarking back. “Yeah yeah, but that’s still a move anyone could do, so I mean, it’s not THAT impressive. Call me when he’s got something that can beat the Three Star Hurricane!”

Raph huffed, rolling his eyes as he grabbed another handful of cheesy chips. “Whatever Leon, I still say he’s pretty cool.”

The blue turtle raised an eyebrow. “Only ‘pretty cool’, huh?” Funny, that was the same thing he said about the last new wrestler he cheered on. And the one before that. And the one before that. 

Scowling a bit, Raph tried to start an argument in his defense, but was interrupted by the one and only Jessica Jacklynn. The end of the wrestling season was drawing near, and even with another few championship fights left to go, it was also the time to look back on this year’s previous great fights. The winners, and the not-so-great winners. And, naturally, a certain white furred bear-themed wrestler and his victories took up quite a few clips despite his ultimate defeat in the end.

Raph sighed, a familiar feeling of disappointment and heartache settling into his chest.

“Hey, come on,” he heard Leo say, the slider’s tone a mix of concern and ‘pestering little brother’, not wanting to see Raph fall into this certain type of funk yet again. “Raph? Raphie? Raph-a-doodle? Big Red-?” Raph elbowed him, only managing to push Leo back a bit given how little strength he put into it. “Forget about him, bro. There are plenty of awesome wrestlers out there to follow and cheer on!”

“You don’t get it, man. I- I  _ know _ there are plenty of other wrestlers out there. Good ones. Great ones, even. But Ghost Bear…” He still remembered seeing his first Ghost Bear match at the tender age of ten. He remembered trying some of Ghost Bear’s moves on his ever-patient Pops, back when his little brothers were still a bit too small to properly rough house with him. He remembered how happy he felt when he found a Ghost Bear poster in an abandoned sports magazine, how excited he was to watch his idol win fight after fight… Fights that were won unfairly. Fights that were won because of a dirty cheater and not purely based on strength and skills.

“Ghost Bear was the best. The BEST! But now… Now he’s nothin’. Just a huge jerk that- Ugh, who knows how many of those fights he actually won?! Maybe none of them were real. Maybe none of this-!” He gestured to the tv, where a 3-on-3 match between the Liberty League and the Hulking Hamsters was about to begin. “-is real!”

Leo bit his lip, deciding not to bring up his usual ‘wrestlers always pull their punches’ routine, and deciding to just pull his big bro into a one-armed hug. 

“And even if it is,” Raph continued, pulling his knees towards his chest, “That don’t change the fact that one of the guys I looked up to is just… just-”

“The worst?” Leo finished.

“Hmph, yeah. The absolute worst… It’d be one thing if the cheating was part of the act, like if he was a heel or somethin’ but was still an actually decent guy outside of fights.” But their little run-in a couple weeks ago on the subway certainly put that hopeful idea down for the count. “But nah… He’s just a no-good dirty cheater who doesn’t care about his fans or real wrestling… And when your idol turns out to THAT bad, it’s not somethin’ you can just forget about, no matter how hard you try. It’d be like if you found out that one of the actors that played Jupiter Jim was a jerk to everyone on the sets of his movies, and also threw coffee at other actors so no one could be a better actor than him.”

Leo patted his shoulder, sympathetically. “Not gonna lie, that does sound pretty awful. ...But you know, I’m sure Donnie could look up his address. And last I check, we’ve got a nearly full carton of eggs in the fridge-”

“We aren’t eggin’ his house, Leo.”

“I dunno. Seems like a pretty good way to get justice to me.”

“It’s not gonna change anything,” Raph sighed, looking down at the floor.

Putting on a more serious expression, Leo tried again. “Then let’s try a different form of justice. Let’s make sure that no other Ghost Jerks get that far in the league again. We can, you know, keep an eye out for cheaters, and root for and support the guys who fight fair and do it awesomely! Find your new ‘best’ wrestler! He’s gotta be out there somewhere! Heck, maybe- Maybe YOU can be the new best wrestler!”

Raph blinked, sitting up slightly. That… That didn’t sound like a bad idea, actually. It wasn’t like joining a wrestling league was unfamiliar or dangerous for them. In fact the first time they did it, it was pretty easy - and it hadn’t even been on purpose!

“Yeah!” Leo grinned encouragingly, “Show ‘im how a REAL champ acts, Red Rage!”

Breaking a smile for the first time since the conversation started, the snapper chuckled. “You do remember that I made up that wrestle-sona cause I was pissed at you, right? I don’t think most people are gonna want to cheer for some hot-head all the time.”

“Eh, you never know. They could grow to like you once they see how genuinely awesome you are at wrestling. And that you’re a total softie underneath all that rage.”

Raph gave him a bit of a look. “Do you WANT to go back under my armpit?” Leo just laughed. “Hmph, besides, I don’t want to just be known as ‘the wrestler that’s angry all the time’. That would get exhausting, no matter how many championship belts I won.” Still, he smiled. “But, maybe there’s another gimmick I could try…”

A few weeks passed, and thanks to a bit of hacking and schedule manipulating, a new name was added to the New York Wrestling League’s Wednesday night line-up.

“Alright, wrestling fans!” Jessica all but roared at the enthusiastic crowd, “We’ve got a new wrestler here tonight, hoping to be our next champion. So, let’s give a big Big Apple welcome toooo… SHADOW BEAR!”

Leaping into the ring, Raph - Shadow Bear - grinned widely at his audience, striking a pose. The dark grey, slightly tattered shirt was new while the black pants from his Red Rage costume had to be repurposed, though one could hardly tell. He also had black, furry wristbands on both his arms and his combat boots, as well as a black and grey kabuki mask with the face of a bear (complete with little bear ears, Mikey’s idea) placed over his usual red mask. The red tails still flowing behind him added a splash of dangerous color, and a silver belt with a full moon buckle around his waist tied the whole look together. He struck another pose before breaking character for a moment, making sure to wave at the very impressed kids in the audience.

Behind him sat his squad, the former champ Prime Time and both of their one-time managers, One Love and Dynamite Don, and all three of them were doing their best to hype up the crowd. “Don’t get confused, ya’ll! This ain’t no illusion or ghost of wrestling matches past!” One Love announced.

“Nah, this guy’s gonna ursa major-ly kick your BUTT!” Prime Time added with a cheeky smile. 

“And we’re here to say ‘I’m sorry, Ghost Bear  _ whom’? _ ” Dynamite Don finished, pointing finger guns at the crowd before pointing them at his brother, “This is  **Shadow Bear‘s** time to shine, and don’t any of you wrestling fanatics forget it!”

“So-” Shadow Bear cracked his knuckles, his now-white eyes shining with excitement and determination. “Who wants to fight me first?!”


	32. Impossible, Improbable Deliciousness

**_Contains:_ ** _ Enriched Flour Bleached (wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Sugar, Palm Oil, Canola Oil, Water. Contains 2% or less of: Wheat Protein Isolate, Baking Powder (sodium aluminum phosphate, baking soda), Salt, Eggs _

Donnie had the list memorized at this point. Truth be told, he memorized it ages ago, yet he still always insisted on reading the back of the small, thin box. Like some ancient riddle tablet, unable to be solved by even the smartest of men (or mutants). He furrowed his fake eyebrows, bringing the box closer to his eyes, as if that would somehow help.

In his lap, Mayhem started to stir again. Still not looking up from the thin box, Donnie began petting him once more, receiving happy and grateful purrs as a reward. 

“...Still trying to figure it out?” April asked, his frustrating conundrum only a source of amusement for her. 

“Yyyyep,” he said, holding back a groan. 

“Why don’t you take a break and, you know-” she gestured to all the stray bits of wire and microchips on the floor around him. “The thing you said you were going to do when you came over?”

“Oh, I already finished that. Sorry.” Still holding the box with one hand, he took his other away from Mayhem’s soft fur and used it to hand April her newly updated laptop. “Meant to tell you earlier. It was a pretty quick fix actually. Companies, even the top brand ones, purposely use cheap and/or medium grade stuff in their tech. All I needed to do was replace the important stuff and boom! No more lagging during late night gaming sessions or essay writing, shouldn’t need a new one for at LEAST fifteen years, and that’s a Donatello guarantee.” A small smirk cracked his concentrated features. “Planned obsolescence can suck it.”

April chuckled, examining the laptop. Everything back in its place, no stray wires or missing screws. Even the small cracks in her screen had been fixed, and all in under twenty minutes. “Thanks Dee, you’re the best.” Donnie nodded back at her, accepting and silently thanking her for the praise, but not seeing it as such a big deal. Though, that made sense. For a guy like Donnie, who frequently built amazing things that seemed to blur the lines between science and sci-fi fantasy, fixing a simple three year old laptop was practically child’s play. A simple favor, not even close to being a bother for him.

Still, April felt the need to repay him, even if it was something equally as simple. And wasn’t that the problem? That his big brain could work with any and all tech with ease, yet it couldn’t wrap itself around the simple stuff. 

Finally setting the box down, Donnie gave her a bit of a look. “Even if I hadn’t finished,” he began, his hand back to petting Mayhem at the creature’s insistence, “You’re the one who distracted me, soooo-”

April gave him her ‘don’t even go there’ look. “Hey, I was just trying to do something nice for you.”

“...I know, I’m sorry.” Hearing the timer go off, April stood up and walked into her kitchenette, patting Donnie’s shoulder on the way out to let him know that no offense had been taken.

As a group, the brothers were pretty easy to please, meal-wise. Pizza, burgers, take-out, Mexican - even if they all had their own tastes, compromises were quick and everyone in their little friend group was easy to please. ...When it came to meals. However, desserts and snacks? That was a  _ much _ different story.

So, wanting to offer them each their favorite treat that they couldn’t always (or in Leo’s case, never) get at home thanks to majority rules plus their usual food budget restrictions, April always kept at least half a package of each of their favorite desserts in her kitchen. A simple, easy way to put a smile on her brothers faces whenever one of them came over for an individual visit. 

For Raph, it was gummy sharks, something very chewy with a fairly pleasing, subtle sugary taste that no one in his family seemed to appreciate the way he did. For Leo, it was Reese’s pieces, something banned from the lair thanks to Raph’s allergies. Still inside of the package it was easy to tell what they were, but outside of it they were just way too easy to be mistaken for M&Ms or Skittles. For Mikey, it was Zebra Cakes, a classic kid’s favorite. While everyone else in his family insisted that there were plenty of better and more interesting snack cakes - that Mikey himself could bake much better desserts - the box turtle refused to give up his old favorite, swearing up and down that they were still the best, even more than some ‘real’ desserts. 

As for Donnie, his favorite would always be…

April took the sheet tray out of the oven. In a flash, Mayhem was next to the stove. “Careful, boy,” April told him, “Let ‘em cool for a bit.” Mayhem nodded, satisfied with just sniffing the yummy air around them, at least for a moment. 

Grabbing a good sized plate and a spatula, April took all of them off the tray with ease, throwing the last two up in the air. Licking his lips, Mayhem leapt up and caught them in his mouth, growling and chirping with delight as he munched on them. “Heh, yeah, I think Donnie would agree with you,” April giggled, giving the creature a quick scratch around the ears before heading back into the living room with the plate. 

“You know,” she started to say as she placed the dessert in front of him, “Sometimes the simplest things really are the best, and there’s no magic reason or secret hidden ingredient or whatever. It’s because they’re so simple that they work, cause there’s nothin’ overcomplicating it or gettin’ in the way, you know?”

Donnie hummed. He thought about how cheese pizza, as simple and plain as it was, could still be absolutely delicious. He thought even further back about the ramen cups his dad would get for them, being one of the few ‘fresh’ meals they could afford, usually getting them from some cheap bodega ran by someone who didn’t care to ask questions. Yet where they got it had never mattered when he was little, it was still delicious and filling, always warming his small body to its core. 

And finally, he looked down at the sugar cookies in front of them. The simple, small, literally only has like five ingredients, easy to bake, perfectly-round-because-they-were-cut-by-a-machine sugar cookies with the simple image on them (this time being an Easter egg, indicating that they had been bought last Spring). He stared at them, and nearly started to drool as he remembered just how freaking  _ good _ they were.  

“Perhaps you’re right, April. Perhaps you’re right.”

“...But you’re still not going to stop tryin’ to figure it out, right?”

“You know me so well,” Donnie smirked, picking up one of the cookies, “But, I’ll put that research on hold until  _ after _ I’ve eaten.” With that, he popped the treat into his mouth, humming happily as it practically melted on his tongue. “...You might as well call me Raph, cause these are all going to be gone in five minutes. Less than five minutes. If you want some, you better grab them now.”

“Nah, I’m good,” April insisted with a smile. She wanted to focus on checking out some of her ‘new’ laptop’s new features anyway, and besides- “They’re your favorite, so you enjoy as much as you want. Treat yourself.”

The softshell chuckled. Funny, wasn’t that expression supposed to be used for extravagant things? Still, if they provided enough joy, he figured that it worked for simple things too.

And just as he had promised, the plate was left with nothing but crumbs after exactly 3.07 minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pillsbury Shape sugar cookies, ya'll... Freaking DELICIOUS


	33. Did They Send Me Turtles, When I asked-?

“...You know, technically she’s not-”

“Dude, do not. _ Even _ .”

“Look, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing that she’s not one of them, but it  _ is _ true, no matter how much you want to deny it, Leon! Mulan is  _ not _ a princess!”

“She’s part of the brand! She’s a princess!”

“She marries the captain of an army - and NOT a prince - and her parents are commoners and admit it, you only like her cause she has a sword!”

“Oh come on, Donnie! I like her because she’s awesome, she cares about her family-” She tries to turn herself into something great, someone that her family could be proud of, which was admittedly something that Leo could secretly relate to- “she knows how to kick butt AND because she has a sword! That last one is not the only reason!”

“Fine, so she’s your favorite Disney character, but she’s only part of the princess brand to strengthen the brand itself, not because-”

“Seriously, guys?” Mikey said flatly. April didn’t even bother chiming in, trying her best to focus on the movie in front of her and not the debate that she had heard far too many times. Though, she was grateful when Raph spoke up.

“If you guys don’t drop it, we’re gonna stop the movie here and put in Frozen so we can watch  _ my _ favorite princesses,” the snapper warned, a serious scowl on his face.

The twins loudly groaned at the thought of having to watch Frozen  _ again _ . “All I said was that Mulan was my favorite princess,” Leo mumbled, “Donnie was the one who-” He was cut off by a stray pair of popcorn kernels hitting him right in the back of his head.

“Fine, I’ll drop it,” Donnie sighed, “At least until after the best scene of the movie is over.”

“ _ Second _ best,” Leo lightly argued, ignoring Donnie when he elbowed him for it, “The climax still beats it in my opinion.” Though, eyeing another kernel at the ready in-between Mikey’s finger tips, Leo decided to just keep his opinions to himself and instead watched as Mulan awkwardly walked into the army campsite. 

“So, you finally decided to make Elsa and Anna your new faves, huh?” April whispered, leaning on Raph’s side.

Raph nodded. “Yep. What can I say? I relate to the whole ‘protective sibling’ thing.” Anna had the strength and the personality, not taking anything from anybody, while Elsa had the cool ice powers (no pun intended) and, while ultimately choosing to do it the wrong way, still cared about her sister and tried to protect her. “Though, I still love my girl Jasmine, don’t get me wrong.”

“I’ve gotta go with Rapunzel,” Mikey told them with a grin, “She’s got style, she can fight, and she’s an artist! What’s not to like?” 

Raph and April both chuckled. Mikey’s favorite certainly wasn’t a surprise to anyone. “Yeah, ‘Punzie’s pretty great. Anyone who knows how to fight with a frying pan is definitely gonna be towards the top of most people’s lists.” The conversation was then paused, all of them taking a moment to laugh at the memetic  _ “CHICKEN BOY?! Say that to my face, ya limp noodle!” _ line.

“What about you, April?” Mikey asked, “You got a favorite princess?”

“Of course,” she smirked, “My heart wants to say Ariel, since she was my first-” Plus, being fascinated by and wanting to be in a world that wasn’t your own? Totally relatable. “But I don’t know, Moana is kind of givin’ her a run for her money.”

“Oooh yeah, Moana is awesome!”

“If I may add-” Everyone gave him a warning look, but Donnie just raised his hands in defense. “ _ I was just going to say _ , in terms of favorite princesses, it has to be Tiana for me. She’s the hardest working, the most determined, the most interesting, has good snark, a great singing voice. Intelligent, talented and, let’s be real here, people, she’s got the hottest prince.” 

“Mood,” Leo agreed while Raph just shrugged. He was more of a Shang or Eric guy but, eh, to each their own. 

“Heh, kinda surprised you didn’t go with Belle, Dee,” Mikey replied, remembering how she was Donnie’s favorite when he was little, all because she liked reading as much as he did. (“And her dad kinda looks like you, Pop!” Neither Splinter nor Donnie had lived that one down for years.)

Donnie smiled back at him. “She would be my second favorite.”

The movie continued to play on, moving through the rest of ‘introduction to the army’ scene, the morning after, Shang initiating the arrow challenge, and finally, as the drum beat started to come in-

Grinning, Raph pumped his fist in the air. “LET’S get down to business~!” he sang loudly, “To defeat-” 

“THE HUNS!” the others sang - practically screamed - back at him, already having their chosen parts of the song in mind.

Yep, there was a reason why, despite all of them having their own favorites, Leo usually got his way when it came to most Disney movie nights.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol, I love writing these sillier drabbles ^v^ even if they end up being kinda short, heh
> 
> Also, just so we're all clear here, I headcanon Leo as ace-gay, April as gay, and Raph and Donnie as bi. That headcanon probably won't have a whole drabble focused on it given that I don't really ship the boys with anyone but, eh, might as well mention it here.


	34. Flash

Splinter didn’t believe in hanging onto the past. After all that he had been through - his rise to fame, both in the human and mutant worlds, his relationships, his eventual fate and transformation - hanging onto a past that could never be brought back would smother and drown him with ‘what ifs’ and wishful fantasies, he knew it would. 

Besides, there was no need. As different and sometimes frustrating as his new life was, he knew fully well that he’d never trade it for anything. Not for a dozen more cheesy action movies, not for two dozen film awards, and certainly not for the life of a Battle Nexus Champion. He had his sons who he loved with all his heart and who loved him just as much in return, he had his television with its game shows and commercials and his old movies and his comfy chair and tea, and when it really came down to it, he knew those things were enough. 

However, there were two exceptions to this promise to live strictly in the moment. Two connections to his past that he refused to ever let go of. The first was, naturally, his movies. Movies that were easy enough to disconnect from most of the time, to pretend that they were made by someone else and to just enjoy as a work of art (and to use as a pretty good teaching example for his sons). And the second…

Splinter sighed, eyes a bit tired but still with a spark of sharpness that never seemed to fade. Just as he always did when he was in this certain mood, he walked over to the shelf in his bedroom, and pulled out a faded white, stuffed envelope. Moving over to his bed, he then opened the envelope and began shifting through the various pictures taken over the past decade or so. 

Physical pictures were a luxury that most mutants couldn’t afford, he would imagine, being an unnecessarily risky piece of evidence for their existence. Still, when Splinter had found that cheap disposable camera in the dump several years ago, miraculously only having a couple pictures taken on it, he just couldn’t put it back. He instead kept it hidden away in his robe or in his room, only taking it out for special occasions. 

By the time he’d found the cheap device in that dump all those years ago, he had already missed out on their toddler years, but he knew there were still plenty of big moments left to capture. Frankly, he was proud of himself for making it last for so long, and when the camera was finally full, a simple lock-picking job at a closed pharmacy with a photo developing machine was all it took. Again, an unnecessary risk, perhaps, but one Splinter would do again if he had to.

The old rat shook his head at his own feelings. “When did you get so soft?” he quietly asked himself, yet his soft smile never faltered as he flipped through each picture. 

Raph had hated getting his picture taken at first, thinking the whole thing was dumb and not really knowing WHY his dad would want pictures of them, and being annoyed that he’d have to stop whatever he was doing just to smile and stand still. As he grew up though, he stopped minding them as much. He’d pose and grin widely, and usually pull one or more of his brothers into frame with him. Raph had many pictures taken with his teddy bears or one of his knitted creations in his arms as well, a softer side of his oldest son that, while not exactly a secret, was forever immortalized in picture form.

Donnie hadn’t been too keen on picture taking either. There were quite a few pictures of the purple turtle with a small scowl on his face, or with a smile that didn’t quite reach his face. He’d also get upset if his father ever took a picture while his back had been turned towards the camera… However, that all changed once he really began to invent. Suddenly the softshell was all proud smiles, holding up his new gadgets to be documented or leaving a blurred smear as he flew past the camera in his new battle shell jetpack. Unfortunately, with how often they were built, not every invention or creation could get its own picture. But, at the very least, his purple son’s earliest work would always be remembered. 

As for Leo and Mikey, they had always been up for pictures. Mikey was the most naturally photogenic, flashing adorable smiles and bright eyes, but Leo’s high energy always translated well to pictures. He too almost always left some sort of blur, whether he was speeding past with a wave, or trying and failing to keep his balance as he struck certain ‘cool’ pose. It would seem that no matter what they were doing or focused on before hand, whenever the camera was brought out, his two youngest were ALWAYS the first to notice.

He had plenty of photos of each of his boys individually, but even more of them as a group. The day they all first started training, as well as the days they were given their masks and their weapons. Brotherly spars and rough housing as well as silly things like dance battles or food fights. Raphael showing off the kata that he finally managed to get right, Leonardo showing off his new training sword, Donatello and Michelangelo holding up their finished blueprints and drawings respectively (both of which Splinter still had tucked away in a drawer somewhere). 

Naturally, the moment when they met a certain human girl and their family of five became six was well documented as well, with April fitting into every picture she was in like she was meant to be there. Birthday parties and celebrations and holidays throughout the years, game nights and movie nights and snow nights, and of course plenty of more candid shots. Shots of his sons napping in a giant cuddle pile or playing together or laughing joyfully at some ridiculous joke, all while their ninja master father took pictures without them even realizing it. 

Months and years went by with each picture flip, eventually ending with the final photo taken a couple years ago. It was a simple one, really. His family had been in the kitchen, not even noticing him in the doorway as they focused on making homemade pizza together. 

Mikey was helping Raph with the dough, whose tongue was sticking out in concentration. In the background was April, smiling at Leo who was trying his best to use his ‘sweet sword skills’ for chopping veggies. On the other side was Donnie, putting the finishing touches on his newly built nuclear pizza oven, which had ended up burning their homemade pizza to a crisp. Thankfully April had brought over back-up ingredients, and while it had taken a bit longer than anyone would’ve liked, no one went to bed hungry that night. It had been such a simple moment. Nothing big or unique or special, yet Splinter hadn’t minded using the film roll’s last picture on it. 

Childhood moments, teenagehood moments, small moments, big moments - it didn’t matter. He wanted to remember them all for as long as he could. After all, time stopped for no one. Not even for an ex-film star/champion. And perhaps, when it was his time to leave this world, with luck his sons and surrogate daughter would stumble upon these pictures soon after, and they would be enough to put a smile on their faces.

But for now, they were simply a mirror into the past for when he was feeling particularly nostalgic. Satisfied with this most recent trip down memory lane, Splinter put the pictures back in the old envelope, and placed it back on the shelf until next time. And, just like always, he’d walk back into the tv room, past his sons - sons that he could’ve sworn he had been able to hold in his arms just a few days ago, small and cute as they babbled and nuzzled up to him. Or at least, that’s what it felt like sometimes, when the days went by way too quickly for his liking- and over to his chair. Back to routine. Back to reality. Back to the present.

Because it was just as people say: Time waits for no rat.


	35. Escapism

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there's a line in "Hypno! Part Deux" where, after explaining what a Donnie Blocker is, Donnie says that the reason why he installed it is because "I know how much you're into fantasy-" and then gets cut off.
> 
> Well, I have a theory about just what sort of 'fantasy' related thing he was going to say, and here's a drabble centered around that theory (and because I just really wanted to write about April again). Enjoy! ^v^

There were moments when April wanted nothing more than to leave her quote-unquote ‘normal’, sometimes lonely life of school and various odd jobs and other draining responsibilities. The moments where all she wanted was to dive headfirst into a new crazy adventure with her brothers. Trying to stop a new mutant from tearing up Chinatown, or going ghost hunting in some abandoned building, or even just getting involved in whatever new shenanigans the new turtles were cooking up. 

Then there was the opposite. There were moments when April felt just a bit too excited about their latest escape from disaster, the lines between adrenaline and fear blurring. Where she remembered that she was in fact mortal, and just how easy it would be for her or one of the turtles to take an unlucky step while running away or jumping into a fight. Where boring homework assignments and minimum wage employment almost felt like a safety net. 

She wanted to have fun, to live life to its fullest with her crazy, extraordinary, just-as-weird-as-her family by her side, but she also wanted to actually live to see the real perks of adulthood. 

So, sometimes, there were moments when she wanted both. A balance. A brief exit from normal life, but not a total carefree dive into the unknown. And in those moments, that’s when she turned on her computer...

A digital explosion, as quiet as it was, caused Mayhem’s ear to twitch slightly. Awake now and curious, Mayhem lifted his head up and peeked over April’s desk. On the screen, he could see a young woman - one that looked quite a bit like his owner, with dark curly hair and dressed in brilliant green and gold armor - rush into the newly-made hole in the mountainside.

Noticing her pet’s movement, April smiled down at him. “Hm? You get enough shut-eye?”

Mayhem just gave a light growl as he continued to watch the screen. As for April, she just smiled confidently as her avatar character traveled on. She had been grinding for this particular cave for a while now, and was finally ready to reap its rewards. 

The first few minutes were pretty standard. A couple random encounters, some hidden potions- “Oh hey! Sweet! A cyclops!” she grinned. A text box popped up, along with two options. One of the things that attracted April to this fantasy RPG over others was the option to befriend certain monsters and make them allies rather than always destroying them. 

Said Cyclops just so happened to be one of the friendlier ones, it would seem. When offered a bit of her gold, the Cyclops gave a curt yet genuine thanks rather than asking for more, a pleasant surprise when compared to some of the other NPCs (and even some of the other online players who couldn’t take a hint). He didn’t offer her the stamina-increasing charm that she could have gotten had she begun a battle with him, but he did offer his assistance in future battles. If she could defeat this cave’s boss, that is.

“Don’t worry, Cy,” April smirked, accepting the Cyclops’ alliance as well as an extra health potion, “I’m sure we’re gonna be seein’ a lot of each other.”

Her avatar traveled further and further down the cave, the background music deepening in pitch as the suspense began to grow. Unable to help herself, April leaned forward in suspense, eyes glued to the screen. She could start to hear Mayhem’s growls and whines with each new screen change.

“It’s okay, boy,” she said, giving him a small pet, “It’s just a game-”

Suddenly, the screen flashed a bright white. “WHOA!” April leaned back, blinking a couple times while the cutscene loaded. It was soon revealed that her character had been knocked back by a bright blast from some sort of gem. A gem that just so happened to be resting in the web spun across the cavern’s ceiling, a web that belonged to this cave’s boss - the infamous Spider Queen!

“Hmm, I wonder if she’s anything like that Big Mama the guys were tellin’ me about…” Based on the stories she’d heard, there was certainly a reason why the boys didn’t want to run into her again anytime soon. But April was hardly discouraged, even as the Queen stared her character down and prepared to launch another attack, beady eyes glaring and hissing all the while. Mayhem hissed back at her as April selected her enchanted war hammer. It hadn’t let her down yet, and she had a feeling it wasn’t going to start now!

With a bit of tapping at her keyboard, April’s avatar rushed in, swinging the hammer right at the Spider Queen’s eight legs! A direct hit! But there was still a lot of health to go, according to the Queen’s stats. The giant spider began shooting acid, forcing April to swap out her hammer for her shield. Unfortunately, even that wasn’t enough to completely nullify the acid that managed to hit her, and her own health bar began to drain bit by bit. 

Mayhem suddenly screeched, alerting his owner to the red gem that was beginning to glow, its danger almost completely unnoticed thanks to it being mostly offscreen. April pressed her command keys as quickly as she could, and managed to dodge the attack just in time! “Thanks, boy!” she told him. Truly a loyal dog-cat-thing, looking out for her in the digital fantasy world just like he did in the real world. With this in mind, April silently made a promise to sneak him an extra treat just as soon as her fight was over. 

The battle raged on, with April having to use yet another health potion every couple minutes just to stay alive. “This queen ain’t playin’ around,” she mumbled, her body naturally leaning towards the screen once more. There was only a third of the spider’s health bar left, but that just meant that it was time for her most powerful attacks - powerful enough to take April out in one hit!

With a hiss, the Queen brought acid down like rain. With a snarl, she shot webs to try and slow her down. And, each time April tried to get close, she’d swipe at her with one of her eight sets of claws. It was beginning to look hopeless… 

But she was April O’Neil! And April O’Neil didn’t give up! 

“Time for a little secret weapon of my own-!” Clicking, she opened up an extra menu, revealing a certain potion that she had been saving for the perfect moment. In an instant, her character’s hands began to glow with hot magic. With a single button, she was throwing fire orbs as if they were baseballs, making for a brief but powerful attack! 

The Queen did her best to defend, but her web shields were no match for the flames. And, once her sixty seconds of fiery revenge were over, April knew she couldn’t waste any time. She grinned as her character dashed forward one last time, mighty hammer in hand. Too stunned to try and attack back, the Spider Queen was hit over and over, the green and gold warrior showing no mercy. 

In her excitement, April’s timing may have been off a couple of times, giving her opponent a brief moment to retaliate. But thankfully her reflexes were fast enough to let her duck or jump out of the way, putting a stop to the loop of dodging and re-strategizing that had pained her for at least several minutes. 

“Come on!” Her fingers were like lightning, the tapping of the keys being fast enough to be mistaken for morse code,  _ “Come onnnn-!” _

Suddenly, similar to how the fight had began, the screen was engulfed in bright light. Cute digital fireworks went off above her avatar’s head as the Queen finally crumbled, her body becoming nothing more than a shell wrapped in webs. “Yes!” April cheered, pumping her fist, “Got it! Woo-hey!” She giggled as Mayhem licked her cheek, congratulating her in his own way. Appreciating the gesture, April wrapped her arms around him for a warm hug, her smile growing as she listened to his happy purrs. 

A small beep alerted her to a new text window. “Got the gem of ArachnoNicolia,” April read, “No surprise there. Five thousand gold, and- Whoa! The Stoneslasher’s Armor?! I didn’t know you got that from  _ this _ cave!” Not to mention all the leveling up for her stats and her hammer, giving her enough experience to take on at least two more caves without needing to grind.

“Guess I know what I’m gonna be doin’ the rest of the night.” After all, there was that limited edition quest that, according to the occasional online player she passed, had some pretty sweet rewards despite being a total player-killer. “But first, I gotta stretch out a bit. And, I think I know  _ somebody _ who wouldn’t mind an extra leftover meatball-”

With a toothy grin, Mayhem poofed from her lap, making April laugh once again. “Okay okay, I’m coming!” she shouted when she began hearing his growls and chirps from the next room.

Sure, maybe it was a little ‘uncool’ to get so excited about a digital victory, but April could hardly care. It was still all hers, and she would treasure it just as much as she did all the other victories, both big and small, mystical and normal. 

She was a warrior, after all, no matter what world she was in.


	36. Simply Shocking

The old, slow tune faded out, leaving the clicking of his needles and the hum of the mini electric heater near his feet as the only noise left, if only for a few seconds. But soon enough, another jazzy song replaced it, this one being much faster than the last. Had he not been in such a comfy position and his mind not in the ‘knit zone’ as he liked to call it (much different from his ‘lift zone’ whenever he worked out or ‘fight zone’ whenever he fought a bad guy), Raph might’ve gotten up to dance a bit.

There were few constants in their crazy, mixed-up lives, and unfortunately one of those constants was that winter always seemed to be freezing cold and lasted forever. Still, not even chilly weather could stop Raph from enjoying a quiet afternoon by himself, his mood fairly light thanks to his soul-jazz playlist and his mind focused on his project. ‘Heh, Don’s not the only one who can fix things around here’, he thought to himself.

A couple more stitches here, tighten a few knots there and - perfect! Raph smiled as he held the bright orange sweater up with pride. He had made it for Mikey a few years ago, and since then the garment had been covered in various paint and food stains, but was no less comfortable or warming according to his youngest brother. Still, rips were another issue entirely, and when the one tiny rip became several big ones, Mikey reluctantly brought his favorite sweater to Raph for repair.

“Is it done yet?” a familiar voice asked from his room’s pipe opening.

“Yep, just finished it up,” Raph answered, “Good as new.”

“Great!” Mikey dashed into the room, nearly sliding into the wall thanks to the peach-colored crochet socks he was wearing.

Raph also noticed the orange beanie and brown gloves on him, and smirked a bit. “Heh, warm enough for ya, Mike?”

“Not yet,” Mikey smirked back, “Look, I had to put _something_ on while I waited! Do you know how hard it is tryin’ to paint or sketch when you keep gettin’ goosebumps, or when you feel like your fingers and toes are gonna fall off?”

“Fair enough,” Raph shrugged, putting his own feet a bit closer to the heater, “Hopefully this’ll help. I made sure to add a few extra stitches too, just to try and keep it from rippin’ again anytime soon.”

“Aww, thanks Raph!” Mikey reached out for the sweater just as Raph lifted it up. Their hands touched ever so slightly, and-

_*ZAP!*_

With a yelp, both boys flinched, with Mikey actually physically jumping back, leaving his sweater to fall to the floor. “What was that for?!” The box turtle asked, cringing a bit at the sudden pain.

“Wait, how was it MY fault?” Raph argued, crossing his arms, “You’re the one who’s wearin’ a bunch of soft, static-y stuff!”

“Yeah, but your hands have been rubbin’ all over static-y stuff too!” Mikey retorted, pointing at the sweater  and the pair of needles on Raph’s lap before gesturing towards the heater, “And didn’t Donnie say that dry air causes static electricity too, hmmm?”

“Ugh, fine, it was both our faults then,” Raph conceded, “Now, with that settled - and your sweater fixed - Raph’s gonna catch some light Z’s.” He picked up Mikey’s sweater once again, this time being much more careful as he handed it off, before shifting into a more horizontal position on the floor.  

Mikey pouted slightly, but once he had the cozy garment wrapped around his shell, it didn’t take long for the expression to shift into a smile once more, and with another slide he left his older brother to nap in peace.

\--------------

Another blustery night with freezing rain meant that staying in for dinner was the only option. Not that Mikey minded, he had a meatloaf-pizza recipe that he’d been dying to try anyway. “Now I just gotta decide if I’m gonna make a pizza flavored meatloaf, or a meatloaf flavored pizza…” Honestly, he was leaning towards the former. After all, meatloaf flavored pizza would pretty much be just like pizza with beef chunks on it instead of sausage, right? Plus, he could totally replace the bread crumbs in a meatloaf with pizza crusts.

Inspired and hungry, Mikey practically danced around their cozy kitchen as he grabbed all the ingredients he’d need. Next were the pans, both the baking pan and the piz-

 _*zap*_ “YOW!” Groove interrupted, Mikey stepped back a bit from the metal handle on their pans cupboard, rubbing his finger tip. “That one really hurt,” he mumbled. And he wasn’t even wearing gloves that time! “Hmph.” He tried again, and relaxed when he wasn’t given another shock. Figuring he was in the clear, he began to beatbox a bit as he got to work.

Prepping the ground meat was easy, as was rolling out the refrigerated pizza dough. However, when it came time to put the crust in the oven, his finger and thumb just barely touching the temperature knob-

 _*zap!*_ “Dang it! Ugh.” Seriously, that was, what, twice in five minutes? “What is with the air today?” Mikey grumbled as he turned the knob to the proper temperature, “Or, with whatever’s causin’ all this static…” He practically saw the small bolt of electricity that time! ...In fact, it was actually kind of cool.

Curious, Mikey began to rub his still-sock covered feet across the stone floor, doing this several times before touching the metal of the oven again. Another shock, though Mikey missed seeing the bolt. So he tried again, and again, and again. Each time, the shock became a bit more dull, not nearly as painful as it first was despite the static Mikey was trying to build up. “Maybe cause it’s not actually shocking me anymore,” Mikey wondered to himself, smirking a bit at the subtle pun. Leon would approve. “Heh, though with all this ‘experimenting’ I’m doing, maybe I’m bein’ more like Donnie…”

A small buzzer brought Mikey out of his train of thought, and once the crust was in the oven, Mikey went back to focusing on the meat - though, he still made sure to be a bit more cautious each time he moved to touch something metal.

\-----------------

Raph yawned slightly as he stepped into the tv room, ignoring the slight shivers he felt. He’d put on a long-sleeved ‘Hot Soup!’ shirt that would be warming him soon enough. Helping were his feet that were now dressed in very cozy, very fluffy ruby-red socks, now that they were away from his heater. So, knowing that he wouldn’t be bothered by the slight chill in their home for much longer, Raph instead took a moment focus on another sense and sniffed the air. “...I smell meatloaf,” he stated.

Mikey grinned, looking away from the old sitcom rerun he was only half watching. “You DO smell meatloaf. _Pizza_ flavored meatloaf.”

“Ooooh… Now THAT, sounds good,” Raph grinned back at him, “So how long we’ve gotta wait for it?”

“Just another twenty five minutes or so,” Mikey answered, lifting his phone to show the timer.

Raph nodded. “Works for me.” With nothing else to do until then, he plopped down onto his favorite beanbag and got on his own phone for some mindless social media scrolling. Completely distracted… Completely unguarded…

With a bit of a bratty smirk, Mikey began to make his mischievous move. He played it cool as he got off his position on the floor, making it seem like he was just going to go check up on their supper. However, with each step, he made sure to _slide_ his foot rather than actually step. Once he was out of Raph’s side-view vision, Mikey quickly ducked behind his father’s plush chair.  Slipping his gloves back on, Mikey then rubbed his hands together as fast as he could. He could start to see the small strings of the yarn began to stand up.

Oh yeah, this was definitely throwing off ‘mad science’ vibes. Or maybe just ‘mad prank’ vibes. Either way, Mikey was all for this little experiment, and once he felt like he’d built up enough electricity, it was onto the final part of his little plan…

Knowing he couldn’t afford to make a sound, the orange ninja moved to his tips toes as he lightly stepped towards the snapper. A bit closer… A bit closer… He began to stretch his hand out, and-

“Bro… Do not. Even. Think about it.”

“...” Mikey froze, his hand just a couple inches from Raph’s head. Before he could even think about risking it despite being found out, Raph just gave him a look over his shoulder - a look that said “I love you, little brother, but if you start something, I’M gonna finish it”. “...Man!” Mikey sighed, finally dropping his hand, “I thought for sure I was gonna get you!”

Raph just chuckled. “It was a nice try, li- big man, but I still totally noticed you. Besides, there wasn’t any way I was gonna miss that look on your face as soon as I sat down. I knew you were up to something.” Plus, years of experience at being the brunt of quite a few of his younger brothers’ pranks had began to give him a bit of a sixth sense for this sort of thing, but hey, that was Raph’s little secret. “...Still, I bet you could probably sneak up on Leo and shock him.”

“Heh, well, he and Donnie ARE gonna be at the table when it’s time to eat. So-” “Orange.” Mikey blinked, and turned to see their father enter the room.

“Did you remember to wash the dishes?” Splinter asked, knowing very well how many pots and pans his youngest tended to use whenever he was trying out a new dish.

“Don’t worry, Pop!” Mikey chimed, giving the rat a bright smile, “It’s all taken care of!”

“Mm, good.” With that, Splinter took his seat, grabbing the remote with his tail. When neither son objected to this action, he took that as silent permission to change the channel. Excited Japanese and amused applause flowed through the room’s speakers, and Splinter smiled to himself as he settled in for another hour of quality entertainment.

Mikey looked at Raph, and Raph looked back at Mikey. Both of them shared a smile, and Mikey began to once again rub his hands together as Raph stood up.

Splinter raised an eyebrow. No complaining about the channel switching, yet they were still suddenly leaving. “Where are you two going?”

“Oh, you know, just goin’ to check up on the oven,” Mikey shrugged as he and Raph moved slowly and subtly towards the sides of the old, reclining chair. Their father could take them down in an instant, so once again, staying cool and casual was the key. “Wouldn’t want supper to burn, right?”

The rat man’s nose scrunched up a bit at the thought. “Certainly not.”

“Exactly! But before we go,” Raph grinned as he slid into position, “We just wanted to give you a hug-!” And with no further warning than that, the two turtles leaned over the arms of the chair, and-

**_*ZAP!!*_ **

All three of them loudly cried out, with Raph and Mikey gripping their hands as they jumped away. They hadn’t even gotten close to giving the rat anything close to a hug, their hands only needing to brush past his fur to deliver the literally shocking blow. “Ugh, right,” Raph grumbled, “I’m guessin’ you forgot that shockin’ someone usually ends up hurting you too, right Mike?” Mikey just stuck his tongue out, too annoyed and disappointed to properly answer. “Tc’ch, yeah, same here.”

“Hmph, serves you _both_ right,” they heard Splinter say as he tried not to let his own mild pain show. To a bystander, it might have sounded like he was scolding them for being so childish, though in reality he was just as annoyed with himself for not catching such a simple prank as the two teens were with said prank not being nearly as satisfying as they thought it’d be.

But even so. “Sorry, Dad. We won’t-” A snort brought the snapper’s attention away from his hand to his brother, and then to his father. A toothy grin pulled at his lips.

Knowing _exactly_ what they were snickering at, Splinter narrowed his eyes. “Boys,” he growled, trying to look at least a little stern and intimidating, even strands of as his hair stood up on his head and the fur on his face puffed out.

“S-Sorry!” Mikey managed to get out, “We, u-um, we’re not-”  His voice sputtered out as both he and Raph fell into a fit of giggles, unable to help themselves and unwilling to stop, even as they were chased out of the tv room with a rolled-up magazine.

Static electricity may have been a literal pain, but just like with the other things relating to the freezing season, there still managed to be some upsides to it.


	37. Twintastic Voyage

He was steadying his hand over a beaker when he heard the whoosh of his curtain-door, followed by the sound of three-toed feet walking across the stone floor. “Hey, bro,” Leo said from behind him, “How’s it going?”

“Fairly well, considering that you didn't try to sneak up on me. I appreciate that, by the way, but give me just one more moment, will you?” Leo nodded, and even took a step back for good measure. Holding his breath, Donnie poured the final ingredient into the beaker. He watched as the concoction began to bubble and freeze ever so slightly… Then muttered a curse under his breath as the reaction fell short, leaving him with a useless mixture. Another failed test. 

“Tough break, Don,” Leo told him, and for once he wasn't being sarcastic. Another kind gesture that Donnie appreciated… The softshell gave a small hum at that, but Leo didn't seem to notice. “What are you trying to make, anyway?”

“A chemical that’ll preserve leftovers three times longer than normal, killing any mold that might try to grow while keeping the molecules of the food somewhat frozen - like cryogenics but without all the tech and tubes.”

Leo’s eyes widened, genuinely impressed. “That's actually really cool! And it’ll help keep food around longer. You know, as long as Raph and Mikey don't eat it all.”

“Tell me about it. I got inspired when I went to go grab the leftover lasagna, only to find a miniature moldy forest growing on it. Blech.” He could've sworn it had only been in the fridge a couple days, but it would seem that even a genius was wrong sometimes. "Don't expect it to be out of beta for a while though, it's gonna take me ages to both get this formula right AND make sure it isn't poisonous."

“That sucks… But hey, that probably means you didn't have much of a lunch, right? Let me go get you a sandwich or something!” Leo offered, smiling pleasantly rather than giving one of his usual smirks, “Or I could try and snag the last piece of cake before Dad gets to it, and I could grab you a can of pop too, since I know you like having caffeine while you're-”

“Okay, Leon, what do you want?”

Leo paused. “...I have no idea what you're talking about,” he replied, looking innocent enough. The act might have worked, if Donnie didn't know his twin as well as he did. 

“I think you do,” Donnie countered as he crossed his arms, “No sarcasm, no snappy comments, and now you’re offering things? I know how this works, Leo. What do you need me to fix?”

“Nothing!”

“Fine, what do you want me to build?”

Leo began to argue, but stopped short, knowing that there was no point in denying it. “...I mean, you’re clearly busy so you obviously you don’t have to build it RIGHT now but… _Maaaaaybe_ we could think about pushing the rocket ship idea up to the top of the to-do list?”

Aaaaand there it was. Donnie had been expecting this particular subject to come up again, once he heard news that there was going to be a Jupiter Jim movie marathon on tv that weekend. He had already managed to catch a couple of his personal favorite sequels, as did the rest of his family, but Leo? Leo had intended on watching the entire thing, and was probably only taking a break now because someone was complaining about his tv hogging. 

And even if he hadn’t been kicked out of the tv room, well… This wasn’t the first time his twin had brought up the idea of building a spaceship. Far from it.

“I know what you’re going to say!” Leo started again, already sensing Donnie’s oncoming sigh and refusal, “But I get it, you’re busy with your mold killer and it’s rude of me to just ask you to build stuff out of the blue. My bad, brother, that one’s on me. But look, I promise to help you build it, alright? We can even get everyone else on it so it’s not just you! Just tell me what you need me to do and I’ll do it - total free reign to be as bossy as you want!”

...Wow. Whatever sequel brought on Leo’s space adventure craving this time, it must’ve one of the even numbered ones. This was the worst Donnie had ever seen it, and for a moment he couldn’t help but pity the blue turtle, just a little. 

“So, you would help me gather up all the material we’d need for a minimum two person rocket?” Donnie asked, raising one of his eyebrows.

“Yeah, sure!” Leo nodded. After all, trips to the dumps and junkyards were no big deal-

“There’s also finding plenty of fuel, not to mention an open space to build. We certainly can’t build a rocket down here.”

“Right, right,” Leo nodded again, “Sure thing, no prob-!”

“Next would be all the calculations,” Donnie continued, pacing now, “and of course the designing which normally I’d just do myself, but since you’re SO eager to help, it would make that step go much faster. Figuring out the physics of the rocket are important, after all.”

“Uh huh, totes…” The slider’s smile was starting to wain a bit. 

“Now, naturally there’d have to be several prototypes, given that even the most accurate calculations can be faulty without the data from tests to back it up. OH! And that reminds me, the testing phase would at least take a few months, if not years-”

Leo’s expression was a full-on scowl now, a mix of frustration and disappointment. “Okay, I’m starting to get the picture-”

“More prototypes, more tests, and once we get all that numbers right we’d still only be able to go up into the atmosphere, just to play it safe. To get to the moon, we’d still need-”

“I said I get it!” Leo said a bit louder now, sighing.

Pausing his pacing, Donnie glanced back at him. “...Heh. I didn’t even get to the part where it’d take literally years just to get to the nearest planet in our system, hence the need to install hypersleep on the ship. Not exactly the most exciting vacation, huh?”

“Yeah yeah,” Leo grumbled, “Damn you and your Vulcan logic.”

Donnie smirked. “I’ll have you know, I take Vulcan as a compliment. Frankly, I’d rather be a Vulcan than a ‘stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder.”

Leo snorted, giving a small chuckle. “Oh come on, Dee. Between the two of us, we both know which one would be Han.”

“True. If we’re going with sci-fi legends, I’d rather be Picard anyway. Just like how I know you’d rather be Jupiter Jim.”

Leo bit back another sigh, glancing away. “Yeah, that’s for sure…” He felt the softshell’s hand on his shoulder then, giving him a sympathetic pat.

“I know how you feel, you know,” Donnie told him, “As unlikely as it is that there’s much in our galaxy at least, you don’t think that I want to explore what’s out there too? To be among the stars and literally go where no mutant has gone before? ...But, even I have my limits, unfortunately…” Sure, he could build gadgets and tech on the level of sci-fi, but he couldn’t break the laws of physics nor did he know how to invent hyperspeed. (...Not yet, at least.) “Like I said, though, I get it.”

“Yeah, I know…” Leo leaned into him, minding his purple brother’s goggles as their heads met. Noticing the silent desire for more comfort and closeness, Donnie brought Leo in fully for a one-armed hug. “...Still, I’ve seen you invent things that are just  _ insane,"  _ Leo  told him, still holding onto at least a little hope, "And now that we know that mystic magic or whatever exists, well…  Do you think we’ll ever make it up there? Go on an epic space adventure and meet aliens and all that?”

Donnie shrugged. His Realist side said it wasn’t very likely while the Mad Scientist side of him vowed to make it at the very least possible. In the end, he compromised with a shrug. “Like you said, crazier things have happened-” Especially in these last few months- “So who knows what the future will bring?”

Leo smiled, somewhat satisfied with that answer. “Yeah… Guess all we can do is just hope that it brings aliens.” After a moment, he added, “Not killer, invading and/or planet-destroying aliens, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Donnie agreed, “In the meantime, we could always enjoy a holographic version of space with my newest 3-D VR headset simulation.”

There was a long silence. Leo turned to stare at him, and Donnie stared back, completely serious. “How… How long have you been working on that?!” Leo asked finally.

“Ever since the last time you asked me to build you a spaceship,” Donnie replied simply.

“And you just weren’t going to tell me?”

“Oh I was, eventually. Just as soon as you stopped begging me for a spaceship. Or whenever you decided to stop talking. I wasn’t sure which would come first.”

“...You’re a real jerk sometimes, you know that?” Leo told him, his words leaving very little sting thanks to the bright, excited grin now on his face. 

Donnie just chuckled back at him. “Duly noted.”

The two worked to clear a large enough space in the lab to allow them to enjoy the simulation without bumping into anything or tripping over themselves. As they did this, they argued about who would be captain in a metaphorical scenario where their family did manage to make it to space. They failed to reach a proper answer before slipping on their VR goggles, but it hardly seemed to matter as they were transported to the hull of their own private ship, just beside a wormhole and a few hundred thousand miles from a semi-dangerous jungle planet.

They both might have had different favorite movies and shows from the sci-fi genre, along with their own specific reasons for liking said genre - from the spaceship chases and the cool aliens, to the amazing tech and high concept solutions to problems, to all the awesome laser battles in-between. But even so, there was still one thing the two turtles could always agree on, at least:

Space, even a fake virtual version of it, was pretty freaking cool.


	38. A New York Delicacy

“... _Ahem_.”

The vendor looked up from his phone, and was only mildly surprised to see four alien-turtles staring back at him. Well, three alien turtles and one turtle-potamus, if you wanted to get specific. “Four of your finest hotdogs, if you would,” said the turtle with the Jupiter Jim fanny pack, “One plain, one with ketchup and onions, one with mustard and ketchup, and one with everything.”

The vendor stared at them for just a moment longer before shrugging. Hey, street mascots gotta eat too, right? “Coming right up. That’ll be $9.75.”

Mascot disguises might have made it easier to go out in daylight, but the turtles still couldn’t help but feel drawn to stay in the shadows, just as they were taught. So, as soon as they got their lunch, they speedwalked to the nearest alley - a place most humans would avoid in fear of muggars, but hardly a problem for ninjas - found the cleanest spot they could, and sat down on the ground to eat.

Mikey tossed his plastic space-helmet aside, taking a moment to breathe in both the fresh air and the scent of his hotdog. “Aww baby~ That’s what I’m talking about!” He took a big bite of it, and regretted it once he realized that the hotdog was still very hot, even with the slight relief of the ketchup and mustard. Still, the delicious taste made the pain worth it.

Glancing over at his purple brother, Mikey couldn’t help but make a small grimace as he stared at the naked hotdog. “...I still don’t get why you don’t at least eat it with some ketchup! Mustard may not be everyone’s thing, but ketchup-”

“I have no grudge against ketchup, ‘Angelo,” Donnie replied, “I just don’t like it on my hotdog. I just so happen to LIKE plain hotdogs, thank you very much!”

The box turtle shook his head. “But like… WHY man? You’re the guy who’ll pile spice after spice on his curry and who’ll have no problem eating a supreme pizza, but you’ll still take a hotdog naked?”

“Yes, I would.” To demonstrate, Donnie then took a sensible bite of his hotdog. “If I had any toppings on it, they’d just make the bun soggy and messy and- _blech!_  I mean, who wants all that gross texture? _Who likes ketchup on bread?!"_ He paused, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "...Besides, the taste of the meat is enough to satisfy me.”

Mikey still didn’t quite understand, but then again, as much as Donnie liked flavorful things, the softshell also enjoyed a glass of flavorless juice. So, to each their own.

“I’m actually surprised you don’t ask for more toppings, bro,” Leo commented. Picking an onion off his own hotdog, he tossed it up and caught it in his mouth. “I mean, you _are_ the chef of the family, but you don’t even get the brown spicy mustard instead of the normal yellow mustard. I just would’ve thought you’d be all about those gourmet ‘dogs.”

“Yeah, and who doesn’t like stuff like relish?” Raph asked, “Or sauerkraut, or spicy tomato sauce?”

Mikey shrugged. “I dunno. I think I remember making a sorta fancy hotdog at home once, following some Rupert Swaggart recipe I read. It was alright, but not the greatest… I think it cause I used hotdogs instead of sausage. But anyway, I just kinda go for the classics when I’m out gettin’ a hotdog. Not a matter of not likin’ other toppings, I just like this one style more, you know?” He smiled to himself, taking another bite. It was familiar, yet flavorful. A true taste of their metropolitan home.

“Huh… Yeah, I guess I get that,” Raph nodded, “Still, if I’m gonna get a hotdog, I’m gonna make sure it’s both filling AND delicious.” Even if it usually ended up falling apart or dripping all over him. That didn’t matter much to the red turtle, once all those flavors hit his taste buds. Besides, with his stomach being so much bigger than his brothers’, all the extra toppings really helped it feel more like an actual meal than just a snack.

Tired of thinking instead of eating, Raph shoved the rest of the hotdog into his large mouth, humming as he chewed. Glancing down at his now-empty yet still very messy hands, he was about to lick them clean when a metal hand offered him a handful of napkins. “Oh! Thanks, Don.”

“No probles,” Donnie nodded, his shell retracting the extra arms once the napkins were taken, “Just doing my part to stop the spreading of germs.” Raph rolled his eyes, and wondered how his brothers could be so picky with food. What about the five second rule and all that? That was still a thing, right?

“Hey, next time we get hotdogs, we should go across town to this one new stand they’ve got set up,” Leo spoke up, his phone now in his other hand while his dominant one held the last bit of his hotdog, “According to their Facebook page, they’ve got pretzel buns, and-”

“Ooooh!” Mikey grinned at that. “Now THAT could be good! Give the dog a good charcoal grilling and put it in one of those bad boys, and mm-MM! Welcome to Flavortown!”

Leo chuckled. “Yeah, I thought it sounded pretty good too, buddy. Though, I thought you liked sticking with the classics?”

“Don’t mean I can’t try somethin’ new every once in a while.”

“Eh, fair enough.”

“Huh… I wonder if there’s any place around here that sells fried hotdogs,” Raph thought out loud, “Like, just dip the hotdog in a fryer and put it in a bun. Put a lil' ketchup on it and- yeah, I bet that’d be pretty good.”

The three smaller turtles stared at him. “...Are, are you talking about a corndog, Raph? Do you remember that corndogs are a thing?”

“Corndogs are on sticks, Leo, not buns,” Raph scowled, “Besides, I don’t like corndogs. The breading is always too soft, and it just falls right off while you’re tryin’ to eat it, and it’s not like you can really put toppings on it. You’re basically left with just a half-cooked, bland hotdog on a stick!”

“Alright, alright. I’m just saying, a corndog is basically more or less a deep fried hotdog, Raph.”

“You want to hear a _really_ strange flavor combination?” Donnie spoke up, “Mikey and I were watching this one traveling cooking show a while back, and apparently in places like Chicago, they put pickles and tomatoes on hotdogs.”

All his brothers grimaced at that. “Okay, I could maaaaybe see pickles, but tomatoes?!” Leo shivered. “Just… nope.”

“It’s not a taco, it’s a hotdog!” Raph agreed, “Who wants tomatoes on a hotdog?”

“I mean, it would SORT of be like ketchup, just not as good,” Mikey shrugged, “Oh! In other places, like in the South and stuff, they’ll put jalapenos on it! They’ll sometimes wrap it in bacon too, so double the meat!”

“Certainly an interesting concept,” Donnie said, “Though I’d imagine such similar yet different pork profiles would work well pretty together.”

“Naturally,” Leo nodded, “Maybe you could put barbecue sauce on it too.”

“And cook up some onions,” Raph added, grinning a bit now, “Maybe throw on some jalapenos-”

“And put it all on a pretzel bun!” Mikey added, throwing his hands up in the air, “Boom! Pure deliciousness~” His brothers all chuckled, smiling in agreement. Even Donnie could admit he would be a little willing to try something like that, though he would still have the sauce on the side.

The four brothers sat in silence, staring at each other for a moment. “...Okay now I actually want to eat this thing,” Leo said suddenly.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think New York has any ‘make your own hotdog’ places,” Donnie told him, slipping in a bit of sarcasm. And if there were, he doubted that they’d let them try out their idea.

Frankly, after the last time he and his brothers had all tried to work together to create their own recipe - which ended up being a towering, messy, sickeningly sweet french toast monstrosity that they had decided to spontaneously make for brunch one morning - he knew that there was a good chance this one, as good as it sounded, would be a total disaster as well. ...Still, his naturally curiosity got the better of him just as it did the rest of his siblings.

“Well head over to that one bodega on 45th before headin’ home to grab ingredients,” Raph told them, “We’ve gotta grab some extra groceries, anyway. But first, we got a couple more hours of money making to go if we wanna get everything we’ll need.”

His brothers nodded, standing up from their spots. They walked back out into the sunlight, and as Mikey adjusted his helmet, an idea he had seen on some foodie site came back to him. “Hey, have you guys ever heard of dessert hot dogs?”

Raph blinked, Donnie put his hand to his mouth to keep from gagging, and Leo just grimaced. “Mike, bro, PLEASE tell me that’s not just ice cream on top of a hot dog,” the slider all but begged, “Cause, yeah, that would be weird, even for us.”

“...I mean, it wouldn’t be THAT bad.”

"..." "..." "...Dude."

"Okay, Raph, you ate a chunk of salami monster once, you are NOT allowed to judge me!"


	39. Bedazzling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been writing a lot about Mikey lately, heh. What can I say? He and Donnie are easy to think of ideas for. Anyway, enjoy!

“Aw YES! This is exactly the sort of engine I needed! Sure it’s missing a few dozen parts and will probably catch fire the first few times I use it but, hey! One man’s trash is another turtle’s treasure!”

“Oh nice! Look, I found a box of old sci-fi books! And- whoa! There’s a couple Jupiter Jim comics in here too! Who would throw all this away?! ...Hey any of you guys know how long it takes paper to dry?”

“Aww, poor little guy. You’re not  _ that _ ripped up. Though, we may have to wash you a few times. ...Maybe a few dozen. But don’t worry, Raph’s got ya.”

Mikey smiled from above his brothers as he watched them find their own treasures. While Donnie went to the dumps and junkyards of New York the most, he and his other brothers would feel like going every once in a while. Heck, even Splinter was willing to leave his comfy chair and tv shows occasionally, when he was on the hunt for something specific. It was pretty much the mutant version of going to yard sales on a weekend, except it was free, which made it even better!

During that trip, Mikey had hoped to find some old paint that he could possibly mix together into crazy unique colors, and maybe a couple new pots or pans too. But so far, his search hadn’t yielded any results, and after a while he just decided to perch himself on top of the highest nearby garbage pile and chill. So he didn’t find anything this trip, no biggie. Life was just like that sometimes.

“Hey Mikey!” Donnie called out, getting his youngest brother’s attention, “You see any old washers from up there?”

Mikey hummed, squinting his eyes as he searched. “Uhh, I think I see one a few piles that way!” he said, pointing west, “But it might just be a mini fridge. It’s kinda too buried to tell.”

“I’ll go check it out, thanks!” Already getting out his extra metal arms to help him with the digging, Donnie began walking over to the spot. With nothing else to do and with his nose starting to get a little tired of the moldy garbage smell, Mikey stood up and began to move as well, deciding to make himself useful and help the softshell get whatever parts he needed from the washer-fridge. Though, as he climbed down, Mikey’s foot touched something that wasn’t stuck enough to be stable. The small, light object fell out from underneath him, catching him off guard and making him tumble down the rest of the pile and to the ground below. 

Of course, it wasn’t too far of a fall, or even that hard of a fall. Just annoying, considering that he usually had excellent balance. Still, Mikey easily shook it off, and as he moved to stand up once more, his hand touched the betraying object and his mood went from annoyed to curious. “Huh…” He picked it up - a small, short rectangular box with stained wood - and opened it. Immediately, his eyes went wide.

The simple jewelry still sparkled in the setting sunlight. There were a few necklaces with various charms - a silver unicorn, the letter ‘C’, a peace sign, and a gold bird perching on a green gem - though they’d take some time to untangle. There were lots of beaded necklaces as well, along with pearl bracelets. Dozens of earrings, most of them missing their backs, and even a few rings. Mikey picked one of them up, examining the dark blue stone and the dusty silver metal. There was no way it’d fit his thick, turtle fingers but still looked pretty…

“What’chu got there, Miguel?” he heard Leo ask from behind him. 

“Just a little bling,” Mikey answered, “Not sure how much of it I can actually wear but, maybe I could use some of it for an art project or somethin’.” He put down the ring and picked up one of the pearl bracelets, slipping it on over his orange sweatband. He stretched his arm out, admiring it for a moment. Even if the pearls were most likely plastic and not actual pearls, they still looked nice enough to put a small smile on the box turtle’s face. 

Leo smiled as well. “Looking good, bud!”

When they got back home, Leo set his newly-found books and comics in the driest spot he could find, and then went to work helping Mikey detangle each necklace. Sure, their three fingers made it a bit hard, but with a bit of focus (and a couple pencils), they were able to get it done. 

Mikey examined each one before putting them on, letting the thin silver and gold chains flow through his fingers. Definitely different from the thick gold chain he wore when he was in his ‘One Love’ disguise. The thin chains sparkled a lot more, and Mikey really did like the cute charms. Carefully, he put them on one by one.

Next were the bracelets, and while some like the pearls were tied together with stretchy elastic, others were hard metal, making them hard to slip on, even with the small gap they had. Thankfully, when you had a brother with enough strength to rip a whole door off without breaking a sweat, this was hardly an issue.

“Easy, eaaaasy-” “I’ve got it!” Raph stuck his tongue out in concentration as he slowly stretched the metal out. He couldn’t go too fast, or he’d risk breaking it or making the gap too big, thus making it impossible to keep from slipping off. Thankfully, after several years of practice, Raph was practically an expert at controlling his strength. By the end of the process, Mikey had four new bracelets to wear, their thick gold and silver metal jingling as they hit each other each time he moved a hand, sounding almost like tiny bells. And, while the pearls and beads didn’t make nearly as much noise, they still made for very pretty adornments. 

“I’m startin’ to feel like a Christmas tree!” Mikey giggled, unable to look away from his neck and arms.

“You’re not done bein’ trimmed yet!” April yelled from the pipe entrance, carrying in a couple bags. 

Together, the four of them worked wonders with April’s old bedazzle gun. Grabbing a stretchy headband (bright orange, naturally), they added plastic gems and even a few colorful costume feathers to it. Borrowing a few backs from the earrings she never wore anymore, April also helped Mikey carefully attached a few pairs of earrings to the headband as well.

“Gold hoops are a classic,” April commented.

“Totes,” Mikey nodded, “Though I really like the emeralds too, they go  _ really _ well with my life colors!”

“I think those may actually be peridots, but you’re right, they do go great with orange.”

“It’s too bad we don’t have any of those really big earrings,” Leo said as he and Raph continued to dig through the small box, collecting all the rings and earrings they could find. “Like, those HUGE hoops, or the really long dangly chains? You know, the really artsy earrings, those would totally be your style, bro.”

“Oh, what about these?” Raph asked, holding up a pair of tiny mismatched earrings - a silver star and a simple rainbow.

“YES!” Mikey grinned, snatching the earrings up, “Great find, Raph!”

Once the headband was complete and slipped on above his mask, their focus went to his fingers. Technically it wasn’t a manicure, but Mikey still enjoyed having his nails painted, and of course offered to do April’s in return. “We definitely have to do this more often,” she told him, admiring the swirly green-yellow design he was trying to do for her. 

On the other side of the room, Donnie used his blowtorch and a couple simple tools to stretch out the soft, heated metal of the rings. It was a bit of a risk, and he did accidentally shatter a couple of the gems thanks to the heat, but Mikey didn’t mind. Frankly, he was just thankful. One dip into ice-cold water and a bit of cooling time later, and Mikey’s fingers were decorated with as many gems and shiny metal as he could fit on them. 

Needless to say, once the old jewelry box was finally emptied, each one of his siblings got a big hug from their very decorated baby brother. Of course, Mikey knew he couldn’t wear all of it forever, knowing it would either get in the way while he fought or get broke or lost during his adventures. But even so, he was going to enjoy for as long as he could, and knew for a fact that it wouldn’t be the last time he wore all of his new second-hand accessories.

Later that night, he ran into his father when they both went to the kitchen for a late night snack. Splinter stared at him for a few seconds, giving a small hum. “...You look different. Much shinier and sparklier than usual,” he commented, “You get a new headband or something?”

Mikey giggled. “Yeah, somethin’ like that,” he said, tilting the gems on his head towards the kitchen light, “And a few other things too. Just felt like tryin’ something new!”

Splinter nodded. Dropping the oblivious act, he gave his son a small smile. “Either way, it suits you, Orange.”

“Aww, thanks Pop!”

A few hours later, Mikey returned to his room, and found one last piece of jewelry sitting on his hammock. Another necklace with a simple silver chain, and a small gold pendant with kanji on it:

**力**

_ Strength. _

Carefully slipping it on over his others, Mikey ran off to find his father, the grin on his face brighter than any of the metals or gems he was wearing.


	40. Far Away Dreams

He could hear the clock in the living room, ticking away each second.

He could hear the slight hum of the AC unit in the hall.

He could hear the occasional drip from the faucet in the kitchen.

He could hear the light snores of his brothers and their best friend. 

None of these things were that loud. In fact, they were so soft that he hadn’t even noticed them until that moment. They were just dumb sounds, much softer than the creaks and groans from the pipes back home. And yet… And yet-!

Raph scowled, holding back a groan as he flipped onto his stomach, smooshing his face into his pillow. And yet he just. Couldn’t. SLEEP!

Though, in the ten year old snapper’s mind, the only thing worse than not being able to sleep was not being able to figure out WHY he couldn’t sleep! 

Sure, maybe there were a few things… Maybe April’s blankets were just too warm, though he barely had them on him now, having poked both his arms and legs out from under it. Maybe her living room was too warm too. Too dry, too noisy. Or, not noisy enough? “Ugh…” Turning his head, a pair of plastic eyes stared back at him. Unfortunately, even his faithful teddy bear wasn’t helping him relax enough to fall asleep. 

Rubbing his eyes, Raph sat up, and ended up feeling even more frustrated as he looked out over his siblings. April was up on the couch, sleeping as peacefully as Sleeping Beauty. The twins were sprawled out over their sleeping spots, as usual, quietly snoring and not bothered at all. As for Mikey, the box turtle was so relaxed and tuckered out that he had curled up into his shell, something he only did when he was in a REALLY deep sleep. Literally every single one of them was getting a good night’s rest.

All except for him. 

Maybe… Maybe he just needed to use the bathroom or something. Yeah, that was probably it. Carefully setting Cheech on his bed, Raph then stood up and headed towards the restroom, making sure not to accidentally step on an arm or a foot. 

It didn’t take him too long to make it across, though it did take him a couple times to remember which door was the bathroom in the dark. Once he found it though, Raph didn’t turn on the lights right away. Instead, he was too focused on the cool floor under his feet. Floor that reminded him of slightly damp stone and metal, even if it was in actuality plastic tile. Floor that almost felt like home… Almost.

Raph’s frown deepened. He didn’t have a problem with carpets before, when they were playing. He didn’t have a problem being away from home, or sleeping in a room that was miles away from his dad’s rather than being just a few steps away. Heck, he had been the  _ first _ one to suggest a sleepover, once he learned about the concept from April. And with April’s dad going to some conference, April finally being old enough to look after herself and her aunt from the next floor up only popping in to check on her every few hours, it had seemed like the perfect time!

But now… Now it just felt all wrong. 

Sniffling a bit, Raph squeezed his fists. Big kids didn’t cry over things that weren’t even that bad… Big kids didn’t cry over missing their papa and their home. But try as he might, Raph couldn’t force the feelings to go away, too tired to really try.

Spotting the outline of the bathtub in the dark, Raph walked over to it and climbed in. It still didn’t exactly feel like home - if anything, it made him feel more isolated and out of place - but it was cool and familiar enough, so maybe it would work. 

And it might have, if a light hadn’t come on just as he was starting to close his eyes. Raph hissed, blinded. He heard a small, surprised squeak.

“Oh, sorry! I- Wait. Raph?” Slowly, Raph opened his eyes, his pupils adjusting to the brightness. He could see April giving him a confused look, probably wondering why he was in the tub instead of on the toilet. “What are you-?” As he lifted his head, she could see the tear streaks left on his cheeks, and her expression immediately became one of concern. “What’s wrong?”

“N-Nothin’!” Raph insisted, “Just, couldn’t sleep and-”

“And you wanted to try sleepin’ in a bathtub?”

“I dunno, maybe!” Raph winced, taking a moment to quiet himself. Just because he couldn’t sleep didn’t mean he had to wake everyone else up. “Sorry, I just… I dunno…” He sniffled again, and ducked back into the tub.

“Aww, Raph…” Walking over to him, April patted his head. “Hey, it’s okay… Everyone gets a little homesick at their first sleepover!”

Homesick? ...Yeah, that sounded about right. But- “But I wasn’t feelin’ homesick before, and the others aren’t homesick,” Raph quietly argued, “And, and I’m the oldest! So, shouldn’t I be the only one who  _ doesn’t _ get it?”

April shrugged. “Bein’ homesick doesn’t really have an age limit. It can affect everyone! Even me.”

“...” Raph poked his head back up. “Really?” 

April nodded. “Last year, my dad thought I should try getting out of the city for a while, so he signed me up for some summer camp. I was so excited - mostly cause I thought I was gonna meet forest ghosts and werewolves and stuff - and even if I was a bit nervous about making new friends, I still had a great first day. We went swimming and hiked and ate smores, all that good stuff!”

She paused, her own smile fading a bit. “But even after all that, the first night in my cabin… I pretty much cried myself to sleep. All that fun had kept me from thinkin’ about my dad and my bed back home and everything else that I might have missed, but once I was alone in the dark and my brain started reminding me about stuff, I just wanted to go home.”

Raph stared at her, curious and sympathetic. “...So, what’d you do?”

“Well, there wasn’t much I could do. I had to stay there the rest of the week, so I just tried to make myself think about things that I didn’t miss, and focus on all the fun stuff I did and was going to do at camp. And you know what? Each night, it got easier to fall asleep, and by the end of the week, I almost didn’t want to leave!” April gave him another smile, her hand gently rubbing his shoulder. “Like I said, everyone gets homesick sometimes, but it’s nothing to be embarrassed about, and it gets easier each time you sleep over somewhere. ...But, if you really wanna go home, I can call Splinter and get him to come get you early.”

Raph thought about this, knowing that his friend wouldn’t shame him for leaving. But even so, he found himself shaking his head. “No… I wanna stay.”

“Okay. ...Then, do you want to look through my old camp photos until you’re ready to fall asleep?”

Raph smiled, and nodded. April helped him out of the tub, and let him hug her for a few seconds before leading him out the doorway. 

The next morning, the three younger turtles found their best friend-hostess and their older brother curled up next to each other in April’s room, sleeping peacefully with a still-on flashlight and a pile of pictures (as well as April’s old camp journal) sitting between them. Once they were woken up though, Raph didn't waste time thanking her for her help. 

"And I totally wanna have another sleepover later!" Raph grinned before looking a bit sheepish, "But uh... maybe we could have it at our house next time? You know, take turns, just to keep it fair."

April just smiled at him, understanding perfectly. "Works for me."

After all, who _wouldn't_ want to have a sleepover in the sewers? That was almost as exciting as sleeping in a spooky forest! And having her best friends by her side? Well, that just made it even better.


	41. Ink isn't Permanent, but Eyebrows are Forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, after 'Best Bear Friend', 'Baby Blue Eyes' and 'Tea For Two', we finally finish this little series of drabbles involving Splinter with one of his sons when they were younger. Honestly I probably would've have done Donnie earlier, but I didn't want to have too many Donnie Drabbles or bby turtle drabbles so close together.
> 
> But hey, let me know if you want me to do more of these sorta flashback drabbles, or if you'd rather I focus on moments between the Jitsu family in the present. Anyway, enjoy! ^v^

Kids did some very strange things, Splinter had decided.

They were always climbing things and eating things they found, asking strange questions out of pure curiosity and making comments using whatever was on their mind without any censorship. It sometimes stressed Splinter out - goodness knows Blue and Orange gave him a couple heart attacks at least once a week, with how often they were diving off of things or wandering off - but hey, kids would be kids.

...However, drawing on their foreheads? That was definitely a new one, and the fact that it was his purple son doing this made it all the stranger.

The first time it happened, Donnie pretended it wasn’t even there when Splinter commented on it, though still allowed his father to wash his face. Splinter had been relieved that it had been just marker and not something more dangerous like ink or oil, unsure how his son’s scales would react to such substances. He cleaned it off using very little effort, and sent the softshell on his way. 

But every few days, it would happen again. Splinter would just be doing chores or cooking a meal or trying to wrangle up his sons to make sure he didn’t lose any, and there would be Donnie, with small black marks on his forehead, usually ranging in how thick or thin they would be, uneven and a bit wiggly thanks to a young and unsteady hand. 

Perhaps they had been from an art project and they got there accidentally? ...No, they looked a bit too straight and well placed to just be something he rubbed on without paying attention. So then, what could they be, and what was the purpose of them?

By the fifth time, Splinter’d had enough. “Alright, Purple, why do you keep drawing on your face?”

Donnie looked away, clearly embarrassed. “I, I didn’t-”

“Oh, so are your brothers doing it to you as a prank?”

“No! I just- I-I mean, what drawings? I don’t know what-”

“ _ Purple _ …”

Donnie scowled, knowing that he wasn’t going to get out of this without giving an answer. So, he gave one. One that was mumbled and soft enough that not even Splinter could hear it with his big rat ears.

Splinter sighed. “Purple, please repeat yourself. Louder this time.”

His son growled, but obliged. “I said… they aren’t drawings. They’re eyebrows.”

“...” Splinter blinked. Well, now that he said it, it was kinda obvious that that’s what they were. “Okayyy… And why are you trying to give yourself eyebrows?”

“Cause… Cause Lou Jitsu has ‘em,” Donnie answered, looking even more embarrassed now. Splinter’s eyes widened, and he felt a pang in his heart as his son started to sniffle. “He just looks so cool and, I dunno, I was just trying to look like him I guess. Be cool… But instead I just looked dumb. It was a dumb idea anyway. Turtles can’t even grow hair, we’re reptiles… So dumb. Super dumb...”

“Purple…” He watched as Donnie moved to try and rubbed the marks away, but Splinter stopped him, and offered him a hand. “Come along,” he told him. Figuring he didn’t have much of a choice, Donnie took his hand, and Splinter led him to the bathroom.

By this point, it was pretty routing, Splinter would wet a washcloth, rub the marker away, dry Donnie’s forehead off, and send him on his way. But this time, instead of telling him he was free to go, Splinter set the washcloth down and grabbed the black marker that Donnie had left there. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting cool eyebrows,” Splinter told him simply. With that, he wrapped his tail around the softshell’s waist, and lifted him up to the bathroom sink so he could get a better look at the mirror.

“Okay,” Splinter began, “Now, you want to start with just the outline.” Still a bit surprised and embarrassed, but curious nonetheless, Donnie watched carefully as his father slowly drew an eyebrow above his right eye. He made sure not to flinch at the slight tickle of the marker, and took note on how Splinter made the brow slightly curved instead of completely straight like what he had been doing.

“Once that’s done, you just fill it in however you want.” Smiling just a little, Splinter began to thicken the eyebrow up, making it almost a perfect copy of the type of eyebrows Lou Jitsu had. (Of the type that  _ he _ had.) A couple extra lines at the ends of it, and- “There. Now, would you like to try?”

Donnie wordlessly took the marker, and put on a determined face. He went a lot slower than his father had, wanting to get the technique just right. Thick but not too thick, one end a bit thinner than the other, slightly curved but still fairly straight. Splinter watched quietly, only making the occasional comment or offering a quick tip.

After several minutes, his right eyebrow had a nearly identical twin just across from it. “There we go!” Splinter said, patting Donnie’s shoulder, “What do you think?”

“I think…” Frankly, he thought it was still pretty weird, the idea of hair on a turtle, even if it was just the illusion of it. But even so… Donnie raised an eyebrow, than the other. He glared at his reflection, and blinked at just how intimidating he looked. He then gave a victorious grin, just like the ones his and his brothers’ action star idol made after finishing a battle. “I think… that they look great!”

Splinter chuckled, amused but still happy for Donnie and his successful new look. “And I think... that I agree with that.”

It was a look that would still take a few days to get used to, as well as a bit of practice to get done without needing to spend nearly half an hour in front of a mirror. Donnie even got into the habit of drawing them on his mask rather than directly on his skin, if only so he didn’t have to redraw them as often.

But as strange as it might have been, seeing eyebrows on a turtle, it didn’t matter. As far as Donnie and Splinter were concerned, they had always been there. Just another part of the genius in purple.

Just another thing that made Splinter’s - that made  _ Lou Jitsu’s _ kids - all the more strangely unique, a feature that all five of them embraced wholeheartedly.


End file.
